That was a lot more entertaining (at the end) than any preseason game at this stage has any right to be.
As promised, Doc played his normal rotation players for 3 quarters or so, where they build a solid 10 point lead. So Doc decided that he had seen enough and went with the rookies and end of bench players. They gave up the 10 point lead, letting Toronto take a 1 point lead with seconds left, but a put-back bucket by Greg Stiemsma helped them put the Raptors away.
I love it when Doc does this, because it gives the young players a chance to play in a semi-pressure type situation without consequence if they don't come through.
Other quick thoughts:
- Impressed with E'Twaun Moore, who hit a couple of jumpers in the final minutes. Not as impressed with JaJuan Johnson's brief fourth quarter showing.
- Liked what I saw out of Brandon Bass and Chris Wilcox
- Jermaine O'Neal and Marquis Daniels both look sharp.
- Wasn't encouraged by the number of times our team had their shots blocked, but small sample size.
- I'm still very undecided about Avery Bradley.
- First preseason game after an abbreviated camp, the game was a sloppy as you'd expect. Celtics (top rotation guys) were just less sloppy. Get used to that theme.