Heat 129, Raptors 105: Giannis's Miami debut spoils the NBA's first night in Quebec City
Giannis Antetokounmpo needed only 14 minutes to reshape a game as Miami ran away from Toronto in a historic preseason opener at Centre Videotron.
The box score says preseason, but the occasion said otherwise: the first NBA game ever played in Quebec City, a sellout crowd of 18,474 at Centre Videotron, and the first look at Giannis Antetokounmpo in a Miami Heat uniform. The Heat won it going away, 129-105 over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.
Fourteen minutes that told a story
Antetokounmpo's line was modest on points — 9 points on 3-of-3 shooting — but the shape of it mattered: 4 rebounds and 7 assists in just 14 minutes, per Hot Hot Hoops, with his drives repeatedly collapsing Toronto's defense and spraying out open looks. The shooters cashed in: Tim Hardaway Jr. was perfect on the night with 14 points on 4-of-4 shooting (3-of-3 from deep), Andrew Wiggins hit four threes for 12 first-half points, and Pelle Larsson added 13. Miami poured in 76 first-half points on 53.7% shooting and led by 21 at the break before resting its rotation.
Toronto's takeaways
The Raptors, playing without Kawhi Leonard — head coach Darko Rajakovic told TSN he won't rush the two-time Finals MVP back — got 15 points apiece from RJ Barrett and Tyreke Key, with Scottie Barnes adding 11. The encouraging part: Toronto forced 25 Miami turnovers. The rest was rough — 29% three-point shooting and 13 offensive rebounds conceded, which Rajakovic flagged afterward as a discipline problem in transition defense.
Why it matters
A preseason scoreline is disposable; the mechanics underneath it are not. Miami's new offensive hierarchy — Antetokounmpo bending defenses, veterans shooting out of the gravity he creates — worked on first contact. And for a league eyeing expansion-hungry markets, a sold-out building in Quebec City was its own result.