Preseason Kickoff
Posted on October 10th, 2006 by
Out at the top of the 3-point arc, Andrea Bargnani grabbed a loose ball and immediately rose to take his first shot as an NBA player.
Not a shred of hesitation.
The ball went in, part of the top overall draft pick’s eight points and four rebounds in 13 1/2 minutes in the Toronto Raptors’ 93-88 exhibition victory over the Washington Wizards on Monday night.
The 7-foot, 250-pound Italian — the first European ever taken No. 1 — entered as a substitute about 5 1/2 minutes into the game and also showed some rough edges: He picked up three personal fouls within four minutes.
…
Fred Jones scored 17 points, and Chris Bosh added 14 for Toronto, which overhauled its roster after a 27-55 season. Jorge Garbajosa’s 3-pointer with 38 seconds left broke an 88-88 tie.
Washington played its starting unit — Arenas and free-agent addition DeShawn Stevenson at guard, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler at forward, Haywood at center — for nearly the entire first quarter and much of the third. Toronto substituted more freely.
After losing in the first round of the playoffs to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jordan wants his players to focus on defense. The Raptors missed their first four field goal attempts, and eight of nine, shooting 21.1 percent in the first quarter and 38 percent overall. #
It’ll be really interesting to see how the Raptors do this year after a dreadful lottery run last season.
