Talk about homecourt advantage. The Toronto Raptors have defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves, 110-105, on the city edition of their homecourt Scotiabank Arena, a tribute to legend Vince Carter, whose jersey the team retired this season. In the win, Scottie Barnes returned from injury to score 17 points in 27 minutes, while RJ Barrett paced the team with 31 points. On the other hand, the Wolves suffered a major setback with Naz Reid going down late in the game after banging knees with Barnes.
Still, it’s only right to have an exciting game in such a beautifully designed court, seen in these photos from the Raptors’ and the NBA’s official accounts on X, formerly Twitter.
Up close with the new city edition court
#ShotOnPixel | @madebygoogle
pic.twitter.com/ZZHh8CXV4r
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) November 21, 2024
Thoughts on the @raptors City Edition court?
pic.twitter.com/ZZ2GYi6AQz
— NBA Canada (@NBACanada) November 21, 2024
Raptors def. Timberwolves on throwback court
Fittingly, the Raptors logo on their city edition homecourt contains Vince Carter’s iconic #15, and fans might have believed this throwback gave the team additional energy to overcome Western conference contenders in the Timberwolves.
Even more fittingly, Vinsanity himself made the first comment on the Raptors’ photo post, his flames emoji reply saying it all.
Another user @kocosports even pled for the team to bring back these jerseys for good. True enough, the vintage Raptors jerseys were among the coolest uniforms in the late 1990s to the 2000s, whose designs were copied all over the world.
Meanwhile, @Starks_Reminder added, “This is one of the sharpest half-court logos point blank. 11/10 Raptors, 11/10.”
Digital producer for the Toronto Star Libaan Osman also had high praise for this redesign.
“This might be the best NBA court I’ve seen in my life,” Osman said. “The Raptors gotta keep this permanently.”
However, one of the few dissenting opinions about this court came from @AaronPKP, who said, “Best court I’ve seen was that LED court during all star weekend last year, never thought I’d see something like that… This is cool… feels like it’s missing like one last thing, personally.”
Another disagreeing opinion came from @trillsamsonite, who just expressed different preferences.
“This tough but personally my favorite was the golden state golden gate bridge court,” he said.
Still, majority of fans have nothing but glowing reviews for the new look Scotiabank Arena. One user, @ZestyZebra32 even gave one suggested addition to make the court pop.
Gotta add the Dino tracks that went across the court back then it’s a 10/10 pic.twitter.com/eDzMbO0BEV
— Rafe
(@ZestyZebra32) November 21, 2024
Finally, another commenter said, “Don’t care for what’s going on inside the arc but a velociraptor going between the legs at midcourt is pretty unbeatable.”
Rebuilding
The Raptors continue their rebuild around Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, and Immanuel Quickley, adding promising young guard Gradey Dick and veteran Jakob Poeltl.
While they may not see the postseason this year, they might break through if Barnes pans out like they had hoped and Dick continues producing.
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