PG: Boardnani

[Kabookalu]

I'm interested in what Boris has to say. He's always left his narrative open for flexibility, except for Bargnani where he seemed adamant he will NEVER improve his defense and rebounding.

[pass first]

The Raptors may finally have their corner three-point shooter in DeMar. He was stroking it from there off of kick-out. Refreshing to watch after last year. He's developing a nice dribble-drive and kick out game. I remember he found Bargnani for two easy baskets, one of them being a three.

People will have to close out hard if he can hit it, will help his driving too.

[TJ Quik]

I believe in Dwane Casey. The compete level was something I hadn't seen in years...

-Bargnani rebounded and was solid on D. Offensively he went 4-14, but got to the line consistently. As I've been saying, Casey is the perfect coach for him.
-Demar showed off his 3 going 2-2, but otherwise looked overfocused and didn't play well.
-Ed Davis looks jacked! he was a beast, and was outplaying KG when he was on the floor.
-Amir didn't play much
-Gray is a guy who is solid but you don't notice, but his legit center size I think helped out Ed and Bargs.


And for thos esaying we got beaten by scrubs, we were playing the regulars close until the final 5 minutes, and then weren't able to claw back against the scrubs.

All in all, my first star is Dwane Casey!

[BirdOfPrey]

Why the hell was Jose in the game in the end, Bayless helped make that come back only to see Jose screw up the game winning play

I'm guessing you have selective memory if you don't remember Jose hitting the 3 as soon as Bayless went off.
Do you actually think Bayless is better in a PnR than Jose? Besides, this is preseason so its better they make these mistakes now unless you're siding with Tank Nation.

[whoknows]

I'm interested in what Boris has to say. He's always left his narrative open for flexibility, except for Bargnani where he seemed adamant he will NEVER improve his defense and rebounding.

I already told him to be prepared to eat crow this season

[HiJiNX]

It's quite obvious that we've spent all of our "training camp" working on defense and effort. Our offense today looked like a pickup game. I don't expect it to look like this by the new year after we get some practices under our belt. But I love how difficult it was for Boston to get layups inside. We still need to improve our perimeter D but our interior D was surprisingly good regardless of who was on the floor.

We still need a number one option scorer that can create for himself, though.

[whoknows]

It's quite obvious that we've spent all of our "training camp" working on defense and effort. Our offense today looked like a pickup game. I don't expect it to look like this by the new year after we get some practices under our belt. But I love how difficult it was for Boston to get layups inside. We still need to improve our perimeter D but our interior D was surprisingly good regardless of who was on the floor.

We still need a number one option scorer that can create for himself, though.

option 1 is Bargs & DD second.

[ty123]

Derozan looked bad slashing to the basket today. Not like last season. It's first game of preseason, so I'm thinking it is mostly the rust. Hopefully he can elevate his play better than last season.

[prototype]

My over-reactive analysis for a first preseason game.

Bayless is better off playing with DeMar and Bargnani. He doesn't play well off of Barbosa. With Bayless he allows Bargs and DeMar to create for themselves rather than wait and use up the shot clock waiting for a set like Jose.

I always become a Bargnani fan again during the beginning of the season then end up resenting him since you can see what he can do when he tries. I don't want to get my hopes too high and end up cynical again. I enjoy seeing the effort though.

Ed or Amir deserves to start and get the majority of the minutes. They look a lot thicker and could finally hang with the big boys. Magloire and Gray just look way too slow to guard the new age centers.

I like what I see from Forbes even though I hated his contract when I first saw it. He knows when to take his shots and when to pass it up unlike Butler and Barbosa. I didn't even notice he got 4 assists until I saw the stats.

I don't know get why fans actually doubted DeMar's three point shot. When he says he puts in work, he's going to achieve it. This kids work ethic is unbelievable. You can't hate on the guy.

[HiJiNX]

It's quite obvious that we've spent all of our "training camp" working on defense and effort. Our offense today looked like a pickup game. I don't expect it to look like this by the new year after we get some practices under our belt. But I love how difficult it was for Boston to get layups inside. We still need to improve our perimeter D but our interior D was surprisingly good regardless of who was on the floor.

We still need a number one option scorer that can create for himself, though.

option 1 is Bargs & DD second.

No I don't mean on this team as it stands now. This roster is obviously not complete and neither Derozan or Bargnani are number one option type talents. What I mean is we need to draft a true number one option because this team obviously does not have that at this moment.

[sanity]

I think some of you guys forget this is practically the exact same roster from last year

[IrMitchell]

Bargnani.. Let's not get carried away, he was a main reason why the Celtics went ahead early, but showed some clutch shooting and was hustling for rebounds.

Derozan didn't play any different.

Bayless is a gamer off the bench, but I don't like him and Derozan out there together.

Forbes showed nice defense.

JJ sucks with the ball, but can bring energy.

Davis was the most impressive player from the Raptors, no close second.

[CB4Champ]

Why the coach took out The Boy Bay in the 4th is beyond me, bu atleast Joser mad the trey.

Demar Trey Happy.

Bargs Rebound Happy

Davis Man among boys Happy.

Terrible game but am happy to see guys like Forbes and Johnson play pretty pretty good.

[timdunkit]

I'm interested in what Boris has to say. He's always left his narrative open for flexibility, except for Bargnani where he seemed adamant he will NEVER improve his defense and rebounding.

As impressive as it was to see, its still one game and he did have a few mistakes.

[talksick]

Some things never change. Inability to block out on defensive rebounding costs us another game.

DID YOU WATCH THE GAME?!?

That's how the Celtics won the game at the end!

It's not just the end play that lost us the game. It's pre-season so who cares about the win or loss. I was more concerned about how our players are playing, and I can say that I am happy with the defense we played, Bargs intensity on defense, Ed's play, DD looks like he may have a 3 point shot. JJ with the 4 blocks. The negativity on the board is getting old, I have been on the boards for a long time but I swapped my email addy and my account got locked, only like 200 posts before, like this name better away. But really I am very happy overall with the play of the important players.

[whoknows]

It's quite obvious that we've spent all of our "training camp" working on defense and effort. Our offense today looked like a pickup game. I don't expect it to look like this by the new year after we get some practices under our belt. But I love how difficult it was for Boston to get layups inside. We still need to improve our perimeter D but our interior D was surprisingly good regardless of who was on the floor.

We still need a number one option scorer that can create for himself, though.

option 1 is Bargs & DD second.

No I don't mean on this team as it stands now. This roster is obviously not complete and neither Derozan or Bargnani are number one option type talents. What I mean is we need to draft a true number one option because this team obviously does not have that at this moment.

I agree.
This roaster is at least 2 players away from competing...Jova & next year draft +

[Kabookalu]

When the hell did Forbes get 4 assists?

[DreamTeam09]

Really we should be looking at this as maybe a good sign of hope with Andrea. Good hedging is an art form these days. Its an actuall skill that a lot of bigman do not have. Bargs showed that he was able to move his feet and not get called for the foul while hedging the guard up top. He forced a TO while doing it, ate up time on the shot clock and allowed for solid rotation. Casey is the man. We saw a lot less of Andrea faced up 1 on 1 trying to defend the guard. More switching with a purpose as oppose to previous times.

[Undefeated]

People will have to close out hard if he can hit it, will help his driving too.

Yep, after his first two made 3-pt shots, defense were running out at him hard. DeMar started driving baseline and had 2 assists off of a drive-and-kick. Obviously, it's only one game and pre-season, but I'm liking what I'm seeing from his development. His ball handling was tight today, didn't fumble the ball like he used to.

[alivinglegend]

Obviously just 1 game but Derozan hitting 3's and Bargnani boxing people out are 2 things that largely haven't happened in the past and are an encouraging sign for the future.