Toronto Raptors will face LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal in their NBA regular season opener

The new look Toronto Raptors will begin their NBA regular season campaign by hosting Cleveland Cavaliers at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday October 28th 2009.

Fans of the Canadian team will be hoping to see a significant improvement on last season's disappointing showing, which saw the Raptors win only 33 matches. Only New York Knicks and Washington Wizards had worse records among the Eastern Conference teams.

General manager Bryan Colangelo has overseen a major overhaul of the roster during the close season, bringing in experienced players such as Reggie Evans, Hedo Turkoglu and Rasho Nesterovic in the hope of making the team more difficult to beat.

However, while Raptors supporters may be approaching the new season with higher expectations, sports betting fans will no doubt have noted the team's pre-season performances, which saw them win only two of eight matches.

Cleveland go into the game on the back of a 2008-09 campaign which included 66 regular-season victories, although the Cavaliers eventually lost out to Orlando Magic in the Conference finals.

However, LeBron James, new team-mate Shaquille O'Neal and their fellow Cavaliers also endured a tough pre-season, winning only four of nine matches.