Rick Brunson .com - Ain't no thang!

The Rick Report: Preseason Game #1
Toronto Raptors 76, Washington Wizards 71
October 9th, 2003
Last night the world got their first look the Rick Brunson version of the Toronto Raptors in a pre-season game against the Washington Wizards. As expected it was a low-scoring affair. Coach O'Neill has drilled defensive schemes into the minds of the Raptors and they have paid off or so it would seem. When Washington scores only 71 points it's because the Raptors played great defense. When the Raptors score 76 points it's because they are still shaking off the rust.

The only player who appeared to show mid-season form was super-sub Rick Brunson who recorded his first DNP-CD as a Raptor, albeit unofficially. Unfortunately the game was not shown on RaptorsTV but the Rick Brunson .com scouts in the arena indicated that Rick sat on the end of the bench for the whole night (you know those seats that seem to extend into the crowd). He gave out some high-fives and even delivered a vicious butt-slap to NBA Champion Mengke Bateer. It was the very definition of a Kodak Moment. Expect to see the poster at Centre Sports next week.
All in attendance seem to agree that the butt-slap was what gave the Raptors the edge in this close affair lifting the team to score 27 points in the final quarter to pull away from the Wizards. Hopefully Rick can continue to inspire the team this consistently for the full year. He did not wave any towels so it was suspected he's holding back that trump card of encouragement for the regular season.

Who says Antonio Davis isn't a team player? He dished out a team-high 3 assists.

Chris Bosh is working hard to earn that hyped-up CB4 nickname by handing over 4 turnovers.

Reports of Michael Bradley's new bulked-up physique appear to be true. He's so bulked up that he couldn't leave his seat and play in the game.