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TORONTO — Why wait? Why not throw the ball up now? The Toronto Raptors couldn't appear more ready to start the NBA regular season.
Their 98-64 win over the Washington Wizards in their final game before Wednesday's home opener was their third successive blowout victory against an Eastern Conference playoff team from last season.
And while it is preseason and while the Raptors have been playing against a mixed bag of lineups, they have tightened their rotation, brushed up their execution and looked good doing it.
"I think we can be satisfied where we are," all-star forward Chris Bosh said. "It's not like we're winning and giving up a bunch of layups and teams are scoring 100-plus points. We're holding teams to under 40 per cent and we're just rolling right now. We have to carry that on to the regular season."
Andrea Bargnani had 17 points and 8 rebounds in the win. (Frank Gunn/CP)
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- Philadelphia 76ers
- Toronto Raptors
- Washington Wizards
- Andrea Bargnani
- Carlos Delfino
- Juan Dixon
- Luke Jackson
- Jason Kapono
- Jamario Moon
- Jamario Moon
- DeShawn Stevenson
The Raptors finished the exhibition season 5-2 and have four days to collect themselves before getting on with the defence of their Atlantic Division title, a crown most prognosticators have ceded to the new-look Boston Celtics.
Toronto shot a solid 44 per cent from the three-point line and 49.3 per cent from the field, while holding the uninterested-appearing Wizards to 37.1 per cent.
On his 23rd birthday, Andrea Bargnani led the Raptors with 17 points and eight rebounds in 23 minutes, while T.J. Ford counted eight assists and no turnovers in 22 minutes.
The Wizards were led by DeShawn Stevenson with 12 points.
The blowout — Toronto led by 29 heading into the third quarter — meant that Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell was able to empty his bench. Rookie Jamario Moon impressed again as he scored six points in 12 minutes on 3-for-4 shooting. The only player who might have taken a backward step was Kris Humphries who made a steal in his own end during the second quarter, failed to pass forward to streaking Juan Dixon and instead tried to run the floor for a dunk of his own, which he missed. He sat for the rest of the night.
If you had to pick a preseason most valuable player for the Raptors, you'd likely choose T.J. Ford, who came into the game with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 4 to 1 and with a mark of 15.7 assists for every 48 minutes.
Ford, to most watchers, seems to be playing a more measured pace, which in turn makes his fastball that much more impressive. His backup, Jose Calderon, had three assists with no turnovers in his stint.
"I think the way T.J. and Jose are running the team the last three basketball games has been flawless," Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said.
The other preseason MVP candidate would be Bargnani, who was aggressive in the post and active on the boards, both points of emphasis going into the season.
Of course, the Raptors proven MVP is Bosh, and he looked crisp again last night in his return from an undisclosed knee problem. He connected on four of five shots in 17 minutes of work.
The Raptors had all the look of a team hitting its stride at the perfect time, with only the odd exception. One is the apparent slide down the depth chart by Jorge Garbajosa, who has been struggling in practice of late and played only 17 minutes last night — none in the first half — after only seven the night before.
"All I can say to anybody is what I say to the players," Mitchell said. "It's a long season. Just because you're not in the rotation doesn't mean you won't play, but you have to work to get in."
