On Wednesday October 23rd ,2024, at 730 pm eastern time, the Cleveland Cavaliers traveled to Toronto Ontario Canada to play the Toronto Raptors and open the 2024 / 2025 NBA season. The Cavaliers were missing starting forward Max Strus due to an ankle injury sustained in practice. He is expected to be out of action for 6 weeks. The absence of Strus did not slow down the Cleveland Cavaliers offense in this game.

The Cavaliers had 6 players with double digit points against the Raptors that night. The leading scorer for the Cavaliers was forward Evan Mobley with 25 points in 27 minutes. The Cavaliers defense showed up as well. They held the Raptors offense to 17 points in the 2nd quarter. And the Cavaliers led the Raptors at halftime 69-49. From halftime on in the game, the Cavaliers coasted to a 136-106 season opener victory on the road. It was obvious that the influence of Cavaliers new head coach Kenny Atkinson showed up for this night.

After losing to the Boston Celtics in the 2024 Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Cleveland Cavaliers felt it was time for head coaching change. The fired JB Bickerstaff and hired Kenny Atkinson last offseason. With the hiring of Atkinson, the Cavaliers front office showed roster stability by signing their young core players to long term contracts. Those front office moves made the job even more attractive to Atkinson. The more aggressive offense surfaced against Toronto in the 2024 season opener. Can this carry this carry over into the Cavaliers home opener?

On Friday October 25th ,2024, at 7:30 pm eastern time, the Cleveland Cavaliers will host the Detroit Pistons for their 2024 home opener at the Rocket Mortgage Field House in Cleveland Ohio. The tone for the season is being set for the 2024 / 2025 Cleveland Cavaliers. A good start to the season is the best tone to set when making a championship run.