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"We have a long way to go, but playing these teams is good for us. We were toe-to-toe with them, but in the end they overpowered us. They put us to sleep a little bit. They were real methodical.

"But if we want to get to where we want to go, we have to take note of teams like this, see what they do, and just be a little bit tougher and stronger," said Bosh.

"It's a good thing that (ESPN) thinks enough of our team to even be here and do this. It's a privilege," said Toronto head coach Sam Mitchell, who was miced for last night's game. "I look at it that way.

"We're here in Canada and we feel like we have a good basketball team and we have some good players and some good people and a good organization. And we're excited that (ESPN) is here."

Garbajosa described his condition yesterday as "optimistic."

"Always. I know there's some possibilities that I cannot play for playoffs. But I talked to the doctors and they told me that I can be optimistic because everything is going right and the surgery was really good," he said.

But veteran teams adjust, and Bargnani was pointless in the fourth quarter.

"It took us 25 points to figure out he can shoot," Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. "I think what we did was just make a more conscientious effort to stay connected [to him]."

Doctors said Garbajosa would be off his feet for 10 weeks, which makes a return this season unlikely.

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