"Jarrett Jack won't have to worry about over-confidence setting in. That 51-point win over the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday in the Raptors first pre-season game of eight this year was a distant memory by the end of the first quarter in Boston. The Raptors got a much better indication of what they are up against after Sunday's 91-87 loss to the Celtics before a surprisingly robust sellout crowd at the TD Garden. But the lasting memory Jack will have of this game and what he hopes his teammates take from it is that the Raptors no longer have to come into this building and wilt at the sight of a Kevin Garnett or a Paul Pierce or a Ray Allen - or anyone else in Celtic green. Jack has only been a member of this the Raptors for one full season but he distinctly remembers coming in here last year and leaving feeling like he had just been patted on the head by an older brother after a beatdown. One of those "Nice try kid, now run on home to your momma." "I'm just glad guys didn't back down," Jack said. "I've only been here a year but in the past it seemed like those guys would just impose their will on us. We would just kind of put our hands up and back pedal a couple of steps. Today, I thought we stood there, We fought hard. "It's obvious just looking at them they're probably the biggest team in the league. We're very undersized compared to them but I thought we kept fighting." The Raptors even drew first blood for those counting at home as Glen (Big Baby) Davis left in the first quarter with a tissue staunching the flow of blood from his nose after a collision with Raptors centre David Andersen. As much as any team can learn anything about itself from a meaningless pre-season game, Jack said the competitiveness he saw up and down the bench, particularly after such a laboured start to the game, gives him hope. "I thought our competitiveness kept us in the game," Jack said. "If that is the one thing we can bring to the table every night, I think we'll be all right." Another different starting unit As promised, Triano sent out a different starting five than he did in the first game against Phoenix." Read more: http://www.torontosun.com/sports/basketball/2010/10/10/15649406.html
watched parts of this game on a website today. barbosa looks good and last years failures might have been just an aberration. also, bargnani has been really bad in the first two preseason games in all aspects, even his offensive game. i dont know if hes injured; the pressure of being the number one guy is overwhelming him or maybe he just regressed but he looks awful out there. nevertheless, i like this team and i definitely think we can overacheive
The defense has been much better than last year (glad to see we're keeping teams under 100). I've really liked Dorsey and Klieza so far. Bargnani's scoring will come, he's missed a lot of shots he normally makes, but he needs to keep working on the rebounding. On a side note, Phoenix is gonna blow. Hedo at starting PF is not a great plan.
