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The Raptors won a thriller in the debut of RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley. The Cleveland Cavaliers gave their all and nearly came back to win, but fell 124-121. Here’s what the newcomers and various Raptors had to say afterward:
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RJ BARRETT ON HIS HOMECOMING:
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“Man. The past two days, it’s been crazy. Today, it was a lot of fun, man. Getting the win and just the way we started the game, lots of energy, carried us out throughout the game, they made a push, they made a run, and we were able to stay strong and get the dub.”
BARRETT ON THE STANDING OVATION WHEN HE WAS INTRODUCED:
“Man, it meant a lot, y’know? It meant a lot. I’m the hometown kid and just coming in and trying to get a win for the fans. trying to win for the country, it felt great.”
WHERE THIS GAME RANKS FOR HIM:
“Yeah, this was special, man. This was special. Way better than any other time that I played here. This was a special one and I’m always going to appreciate that.”
BARRETT PRE-GAME ON GROWING UP A RAPTORS FAN:
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“Just watching everything. My dad would take me to games when I was younger. I remember watching like DeMar and Jose Calderon and I remember when Kyle Lowry came over just a lot of early memories just going to the games, you know, being a fan, always being excited. So to be here playing on the court now it’s gonna be different.”
IMMANUEL QUICKLEY ON NEW TEAMMATES AND WHAT COACHES TOLD HIM:
“It’s almost like playing pick up a little bit. But if you’re playing with great players, it makes your job a lot easier, so credit to guys they made it easy for me.
(The coaches said) Just be myself. They wanted me here for a reason. I’m going to take full advantage of it, day-to-day, continue to get better. But they just told me to be myself, that’s pretty much it.”
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QUICKLEY ON THE DAY FOR BARRETT:
“It was cool, I know he was really excited, there was probably a lot of emotions going through him. He probably got chills, playing today. It’s a a big deal that he got to go out there and play in front of a lot of friends and family. That’s my guy, so I’m happy for him.”
AND FOR HIM:
“It was a lot of love man. Toronto fans, they’re already special, just the way they’ve embraced us, me not being from here, they’ve embraced me, I appreciate them for that.”
ON GETTING THE START:
“It’s great. The trust he has in me, but I feel like I worked for it as far as myself. I put a lot of work into the summer and I want to continue to keep getting better. I’ll be watching film on tonight and try to get better.”
DARKO RAJAKOVIC ON THE NIGHT:
“I think we played good basketball. I think that guys were enjoying playing good brand of basketball and just cheering for each other. You could just see the emotions, maybe after New Years, it was a lot of crowd to start the game. They really liked the applause for RJ Barrett, Canadian, coming back. I see that Canadians really excited about it. All of that together brought a lot of energy and juice to Scotiabank. It was fun night.”
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