So, a franchise record for wins out of the gate and, really, it feels like there’s a lot more this team can learn about itself and it can certainly play better for longer stretches in games.

But winning beats losing and there’ve been moments each night where you go, ‘holy crap, these guys are good’ and it’s going to be a very fun ride, I suspect.

We also want to take ‘em one at time and enjoy them for what they are so don’t get too far ahead of yourselves, okay?

And there was this from that one.

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THREE POINTERS

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A Sixth Sense

You know how teammates just seem to know where each other is?

We saw that early in the first quarter exemplified by Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green almost perfectly.

Once on a drive and once after grabbing an offensive rebound, Leonard just kicked the ball to where he knew Green would be and, bang, a couple of three-pointers.

Now, a bit of that is simple NBA know-how – find a shooter in a corner, look to the top of the three-point arc because guys are often left alone there – but there’s also a level of familiarity between the two long-time teammates that has allowed them to fit seamlessly into what Toronto is doing.

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Managing time

The Mavericks made it a closer game than it probably should have been on more than a few occasions – the Raptors really didn’t play well at times and that’s an issue – but Toronto was able to pull itself together.

At one point in the second quarter, Dallas made a bunch of threes and cut what was a 16-point deficit to five when Nick Nurse needed a timeout.

They proceeded to score on four of their next five possessions, a pretty solid conversion rate, to take back control.

The same scenario repeated itself a few times and the Raptors know they can’t get away with that forever.

Sayeth Lowry:

“Concentration level, just keeping it going. We know it’s a 48-minute game. We’ve got to stay locked in for 48. We had some good stretches throughout, but we had some that we could’ve been better.”

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Dynamic duo

Jonas Valanciunas and Serge Ibaka split the game pretty much in half – 22:02 for JV, 25:58 for Serge – and once again put up impressive numbers.

The two centres – and make no mistake, that’s what Ibaka is this season – went for 28 points and 16 rebounds combined and never led DeAndre Jordan get going.

Nurse told us before the game that he figures both guys want to play more – he’s right – but if they continue to produce at that rate playing smaller minutes which keeps them fresher and will benefit them both in the long run, their concerns should fall on deaf ears.

That’s a solid game from a two-headed monster that presents myriad matchup problems for the other team.

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We could have used Kyle Lowry getting a steal to tie Doug Christie for the franchise record and give us a natural angle to either a story last night or one this week but he didn’t get it done.

Will have to have a word with him.

But Laura did write this late after I wrote this early and The Irregulars were, hopefully, well served.

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Their quotebook

“I wasn’t particularly worried about it. I mean it’s five games we’re going to play 80 ... well, we’re going to play almost 100 games. I’ve definitely been in stretches (like this) but my emphasis was just try to keep doing the other stuff” – C.J. Miles after getting a couple of three-pointers to drop.

“I think we have a lot of work to do. I think our defense could get a lot better. There were stretches where they did score a lot of baskets there. That's what the regular season is for, just learning, getting better” – Pascal Siakam.

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Your quotebook

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More? Sure. Couple of very tiny items just because I feel compelled to have a couple of very tiny un-Raptor items each and every day.

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This is amazing and the great Steve Aschburner had it on the tweeter machine this morning thanks to the folks at STATS LLC.

That World Series game -- and what a gem it was, wasn’t it? – to seven hours and 20 minutes to play all 18 innings.

The 1939 World Series, Yankees swept the Reds and, no, I did not cover it, took a combined seven hours and five minutes to play. That’s ALL FOUR GAMES.

Pretty cool stat, no?

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Mail? We need some mail, people.

Last chance and I want to work at it a bit this afternoon and this evening so get on over to askdoug@thestar.ca and do what you do.

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Did you know the TFCs finish their season tomorrow?

Yeah, they do. And I can’t think of another team that fell so far so fast out of the public consciousness.

I presume it’ll be back because there’s all kinds of talent there but, just think, this is a franchise that everyone loved during its consecutive trips to the MLS Cup and now you barely hear a word about them.

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Okay, gotta try to analyze why this team is as good as it is so quickly in its incarnation and that’s not going to be easy. Wish me luck and check back later to read it, it’ll be a gem.

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