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TORONTO — Faced with an opponent they were familiar with and playing a style of game they were accustomed to, the Toronto Raptors shed their struggling ways and rolled over the visiting Chicago Bulls 92-82 at the Air Canada Centre Friday night.
The win improved Toronto's preseason record to 3-2 and 1-1 against NBA opponents, the Raptors having not played against one since losing to the Boston Celtics in Rome on Oct. 6.
And while preseason counts for little, one positive trend is the continued comfort level being displayed by second-year forward Andrea Bargnani.
He led the Raptors in scoring Friday night with 19 points on seven of 12 shooting, including 3-for-7 from the three-point line.
Raptors forward Kris Humphries, right, collides with Bulls forward Joe Smith as he drives to the hoop during NBA pre-season action in Toronto on Friday. The Raptors won 92-82. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn)
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The tidy 24 minutes of work improved Bargnani's preseason line to an average of 15.2 points a game on 54-per-cent shooting, while shooting 50 per cent from beyond the arc.
Last year, Bargnani finished the preseason shooting only 43.6 per cent (and 33.3 per cent from deep), scoring 9.6 points a game, and struggled during the early stages of his rookie year before finding his feet.
While Bargnani grabbed only one rebound Friday, coming into the game he was averaging an encouraging 13.5 rebounds per 48 minutes after struggling in that category during his rookie season.
He got his game off early with nice post move for a basket; showed his standard near-unlimited range from the perimeter and put the ball on the floor nicely, too.
It was enough to make Raptors fans forget that all-star forward Chris Bosh was in a suit Friday, not having practised since Oct. 8 because of a sore left knee.
"He's just getting better," Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said of Bargnani. "We ran a post-up play for him the first play of the game and he just executed it perfectly. He's continuing to work. We just have to slow him down a little bit. He has to understand with his shooting ability he can take his time. But he's young, he's not 22 yet, but you can tell he's getting better."
The Raptors took a 47-33 lead into the half in what was easily the most impressive two quarters of play in their preseason.
They shot 50 per cent from the floor, while holding Chicago to 37.1 per cent, and counted 13 assists on 19 field goals.
But most importantly there were long stretches when the Raptors looked like the team they were designed to be.
On one first-quarter possession, point guard T.J. Ford, who had already hit a jump shot to put his man on alert, used a high screen by Bargnani to shed the Bulls' Kirk Hinrich and then threaded the middle of the key, drawing a crowd.
A quick pass to Anthony Parker in the corner shifted the defence some more, which was followed by a pass to Jason Kapono at one wing, who in turn reversed it to Bargnani.
The big Italian had already hit two consecutive three-pointers so the defence had to sprint to him. Bargnani merely glanced at the rim before flipping it back to Kapono so he could make a wide-open three-pointer.
And it all came against a team that is perhaps as good a measuring stick as any in the NBA. The Bulls might be a step below the league's elite, but they have a lineup deep in talent and have developed a work ethic second to none.
"That's the thing we're trying to get our guys to do. We don't have the athleticism at the positions that they do, but that's how you want your guys to play night in and night out," Mitchell said. "You will beat people on effort. Even if you have guys sore, tired, on back-to-backs [games], as long as you bring that effort every night you going to sneak up and beat some people."
Mitchell elected to use the game as a chance to get some of his question marks an extended run against solid NBA competition. As a result, proven quantities such as Jorge Garbajosa didn't play at all, and Parker and Kapono only played six minutes in the first half.
Free-agent signing Jamario Moon proved his NBA future might extend beyond his first-ever training camp. In his first run of extended minutes, the minor-league basketball high-flier dazzled with an alley-oop, picked up a nice block, nearly touched the shot clock trying to catch another and hit a three-pointer.
"He's got some skills, we know he can shoot the basketball, we think he's got a chance, that's why we've kept him around," Mitchell said.
It was music to Moon's ears: "Well if Sam said I got a shot, that's pretty good," he said. "From the first day I was thinking like that, but if Sam said it, I'll roll with what Sam said."
It was hardly the Bulls team that many have picked as an Eastern Conference finalist, as Ben Wallace and Ben Gordon both didn't play, but they scrapped and scrambled and, in response, the Raptors seemed to find themselves.
