It's just the pre-season

I am going to have to remind myself quite a bit during the next 3 weeks that the end result does not matter right now. The Raptors lost to the Celtics in game number one of the preseason by a final score of 89-85. And it really does not mean anything. The Raptor starters all played in the low 20's in minutes while Boston played in the low 30's. It still would have been nice to see the depth of the Raptors pull this out, but who cares.

I can't judge this very well as I am currently on the road and have yet to see the game, although it is taped and will be watched tomorrow evening. So this game along with tomorrows next preseason game against a European team I can't spell will be watch and reviewed by my tomorrow night. As well as the Season Preview will continue on Tuesday with 2 more teams.

As far as looking at the stats for today's game, the Raps did go with a starting lineup of Ford/Parker/Kapono/Bosh/Bargnani. I fully expect them to play around with that during the next 3 weeks, I have a feeling that Delfino will get a chance as well as Rasho. Unless of course, they are already dead set on Kapono and Bargnani in the starting unit.

Bargnani played under 15 minutes in his "Home" game. Here is the good... 4 for 6 shooting with 2 three's for 13 points. The Bad... 3 boards (remember it was just 14 minutes) as well as 4 fouls! The 4 fouls scares me, but that is what training camp and preseason is all about, working out the bugs. Let's just keep an eye on the foul situation when it comes to Bargnani as the preseason moves along.

Delfino was the high minutes man off the bench with 23 minutes. And a nice stat line of 3 out of 4 shooting, 1 long range bomb, 5 boards, 2 assists and a steal. Not bad.

Rasho, Garbo and Jose all got around 18 minutes, with Jose producing a 5 for 10 shooting game, Rasho not producing much and Garbo shooing 1 for 4. These 3 will be ready come season time.

As far as the player who more then likely won't be on the team come season time, Jamario Moon, he actually got some minutes. With close to 13 minutes played, he got more burn then Dixon/Jackson/Baston and Hump. How did he do with his minutes? 2 for 7 shooting wtih 3 boards. With the slim chance to begin with of staying on the roster, we can now say "So long" to Mr. Moon.

The other new Raptor, Maceo Baston didn't do well ether. 0 for 3, with 4 boards and 3 turnovers! Luke Jackson went 0 for 4 with 2 offensive boards. Hump didn't take a shot and got only one board with 2 fouls in 7 minutes.

It is hard, and pointless, to read into anything right now. Tomorrow, Mitchell might flip the script and put in 2 new starters and give Hump the most minutes off the bench. Who knows. I will watch the game tomorrow and see how it went, but until then, it's important to remember that it's preseason.

As far as the Celtics go, they did run the starters longer, which might have lead to some of the difficulties the Raps bench was running into. A line up of Jose/Jackson/Graham/Moon/Rasho would have a difficult time against Garnett/Allen/Pierce.

Anyhow, Garnett seemed at home with a 19 and 16 game. Pierce put in 14 points while Allen went 4 for 13. Eddie House got the most time off the bench, and shot a solid 6 for 10. Again, all of this is too early to tell, except that it seems that the big three will get around 30 minutes this preseason to help them gel together.

Boston will make the playoffs, but as far as Eastern conference title goes, I am still putting my bets elsewhere.