Banks – N/A Had the flu, test for the swine kind came back negative. Only person that cared either way was his mother.
Bargnani – 7 Defended hard, cut hard, fouled hard, played hard. Accepted Perkins’ challenge in the post and made him eat Spalding a couple times. Demanded the ball like no other Raptor and executed the roll part of the PNR to tee, even made some great passes from the top of the key. When 7-footers net only 3 rebounds criticisms will follow but those 3 rebounds aren’t the reason we lost.
Belinelli – 1 Flash in the pan. It looks real sexy when you go coast-to-coast against Minny when there’s no defense being played, another to come in off the bench against a tight D like the C**tics’ and show you belong as a rotation guy in the league. If he ever throws an over-the-back pass again I’ll boycott Italian food. For life.
Bosh – 4 kevingarnettandrasheedwallaceownme.com is still available. 31+ minutes and zero impact. Hoisted four shots, got the calls on his fades from the generous refs which makes the stat line respectable. Those of you who saw the game know he got burned on D by KG (alley-oop in the third was pathetic) and was a defensive no-show in that decisive third quarter. Even Sherman Hamilton called for him to be more assertive. No sweat though, it’s only pre-season. Come Shaq on Oct 28, all will be roses.
Calderon – 6 People think I hate him, I don’t, I just have high expectations. 2-8FG 4/4/3 isn’t impressive but he showed some chemistry with Bargnani out there. Was mentally into the game, stepped up to Rondo and held his ground. Looked for his shot and if he continues to do that with consistency he’s going to knock them down. Physically, he’s looking better and better with each game.
DeRozan – 6 Got a lesson in screen usage from Allen to start off the game but then realized he gets to play offense too. Some nice legit drives that drew legit fouls – went to the line 7 times and showed he can slash against a good set half-court defense. Too much standing around though, don’t know if that’s Triano’s plan or just him drifting. The jumper is there but so is the tendency to rely on it.
Douby – 2 6 minutes, 6 shots. Think somebody’s trying too hard to get noticed? Don’t worry Q, the way Belinelli’s playing you might just get bumped up by doing nothing.
Evans – N/A Is “baffled” by his injury.
Jack – 3 Game worst -18, not a good stat for a PG. We saw his defense at the SG today and it wasn’t pretty, what happened to the lock-down guy that was advertised? I understand Ray Allen shooting over you but did you even read the scouting report on Eddie House?
Johnson – 1 Played sh*t scared. First big off the bench, didn’t track KG on the break and got yanked. Came back later, got benched again. Rinse and repeat. It’s much harder to be “active” and showcase athleticism in a half-court game and it’s something he obviously hasn’t learned to do yet. The footwork looked terrible and his shots were short-armed. This is basketball, not shot-put.
Nesterovic – 1 This is his boxscore line: 0-5 0-0 0-2 -4 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0. Sucks.
Turkoglu – 7 Looked polished and started the second half very aggressive. 17 points while staying in control of his shot-selection. Hit a couple step-back threes after using the high screen, had some nice drives and gave Raptors fans a glimpse of the Turkoglu we expect. He’s coming along, not bad for a guy who’s missed training camp. Battier obviously woke him up.
O’Bryant – 5 Why save him for garbage time when Rasho is playing this bad? Much rather see him take a shot at defending KG than Johnson.
Weems – 4 Got burned by Allen and House a number of times but it didn’t stop him from running the lanes hard and trying to sneak away for free points. The C**tics are too good, though. They don’t let scrubs get off on them. A couple more 4 ratings and he’ll get an extension from Colangelo.
Wright – N/A Was dressed in his warmups.
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Pimp: Andrea Bargnani
Ho: Amir Johnson
What we learned: Shelden Williams is still in the league.
The Verdict: Pre-season looks like it was a waste.
