<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> Tell it to Kevin Garnett. The 32-year-old started his 13th NBA preseason last night but looked like a hyper rookie.</p> He was skipping and bouncing in place at the back of the lay-up line before he launched his Celtics career with a ferocious attack on the rim, much to the sold out crowd's delight.</p> Two hours later he was on his feet on the bench as a bunch of no-names finished an 89-85 Celtics win that he started with a tidy 19-point, 17 rebound effort.</p> Tell it to Andrea Bargnani, who was playing his first NBA game in his hometown of Rome and managed 13 points and four rebounds despite playing just 15 minutes due to foul trouble.</p> Tell it to the crowd — splashed with Boston Celtics jerseys and even a few Toronto Raptors jerseys — who were loud and enthusiastic and well-versed about who they were watching and why it was relevant.</p> Tell it to Raptors president Bryan Colangelo who acknowledged that on this night, Game One of the exhibition season meant something.</p> "I'm interested to find out what Boston as has puttogether," he said, referring to the off-season moves that brought Garnett and fellow perennial all-star Ray Allen to Boston to join incumbent Paul Pierce. "Tonight what you see is not going to be a finished product by any stretch. All you have to do is look at us last season. [We were] 7-1 preseason and that meant absolutely nothing when we got off to a 2-8 start.</div></p> The Globe & Mail</p>
