Drake, who's been a lightning rod in the post-season for his on-court antics, came dressed in a No. 30 Dell Curry jersey. Dell (Steph Curry's dad) played for the Raptors from 1999 to 2002.
Siakam's points were the most by a player 25 or younger in their NBA Finals debut since 2012 (Kevin Durant, 36 points for Oklahoma City).
It was a night of firsts. The first NBA Finals for the Raptors, a story 24 years in the writing. It's was the first NBA Finals game held outside the United States, and so the first time "O Canada" was sung at an NBA Finals — performed by The Tenors. The celebratory Scotiabank Arena fans were so loud, they entirely drowned out the Tenors by the anthem's final few words.
Jordan Smith, winner of Season 9 of "The Voice," sang the U.S. national anthem.
According to several online ticket agencies, it was the most expensive Game 1 in NBA history. The average resale price was about US$1,360, almost double the average price of last season's Game 1 between the Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Every logo in Raptors history was splashed across the giveaway T-shirts.
Six Raptors scored in a first quarter that saw Toronto race out to a seven-point lead. A running dunk by Thompson capped an 8-0 Warriors run that had the visitors up by a point. Toronto replied with a 7-0 run and led 25-21 heading into the second.
The Raptors shot 65 per cent in the second quarter, and when Green connected on a three-pointer with 11 seconds left, the bucket sent Toronto into the halftime break with a 59-49 lead as chants of "Dan-ny!" rained down from the crowd.
Outside the arena, thousands of festive fans packed Jurassic Park, many of whom had been there at dawn to line up.
Raptors alumni were honoured at centre-court during a timeout, including the team's first general manager Isiah Thomas, plus Muggsy Bogues, Charles Oakley, Jerome (JYD) Williams, Dell Curry, Tracy McGrady, Morris Peterson, Chris Bosh, and a Year 1 Raptor Damon Stoudamire.
Rapper Kardinal Offishall performed "The Anthem," his ode to Toronto, during a timeout. Rapper ASAP Ferg performed at halftime.
In his pre-game press conference, NBA commissioner talked about the NBA Finals being a full-circle moment. The first NBA game was played between the Toronto Huskies and New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1946.
The presence of a non-American team, he said, might be felt on a global scale.
"Symbolically having our first finals outside the United States maybe has a big impact on countries that follow the NBA but don't have teams," Silver said. "This clearly is a marker of sorts that here we are 2019, our Game 1 of the finals taking place in Toronto, Canada. That will be a milestone.
"It's come full circle in terms of basketball being invented by a Canadian."