Toronto Raptors rookie forward Andrea Bargnani impressed Monday with eight points and four rebounds in a 93-88 pre-season win over the Washington Wizards.
Bargnani, the first European drafted No. 1 overall, shot 3-for-6 from the floor and a perfect 2-for-2 from three-point range.
He also committed three of his five fouls in the first four minutes.
Andrea Bargnani (7) skies over Etan Thomas in Monday's pre-season win.
(Nick Wass/Associated Press)
"I need to improve the same things I did in Italy," Bargnani said. "It's not a whole new world.
"It's still basketball. If I don't do well on defence, I won't be on the floor."
"He is probably a little ahead offensively rather than defensively," Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell said. "That's just young guys.
"There's no way around the growing pains. There's no short cuts."
Fred Jones scored 17 points for the Raptors followed by Chris Bosh with 14.
First-year forward Jose Garbajosa tallied 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting, while Kris Humphries had nine points in less than 15 minutes.
T.J. Ford contributed eight points and matched sophomore Jose Calderon with a team-high five assists.
Bosh and Anthony Parker had a team-best five rebounds apiece.
Toronto got off to a terrible start, missing its first four field-goal attempts and eight of nine before slowly rounding into form.
Toronto shot 21-of-71 overall; Washington went 32-of-73.
The Raptors looked particularly sharp in the second quarter, outscoring the Wizards 35-16, and in the fourth when they put up 25 points to Washington's 15.
Gilbert Arenas led the Wizards with a game-high 29 points in 30 minutes.
He also led them with four assists.
"I want to get into the rhythm quick," Arenas said.
Jarvis Hayes also reached double digits in scoring with 14 points, while Antawn Jamison had 11.
"It felt good," Hayes said. "I wanted to come out and get the kinks out."
Brendan Haywood topped the Wizards with a game-best nine rebounds.
With files from the Canadian PressRelated
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