Let's start with the mandatory disclaimer at this time of year: it's just pre-season. It's just pre-season. It's just pre-season. Okay, we're good? Moving on.
The Raptors had a rusty start to the pre-season, with many players struggling offensively and defensively, but overall they looked okay in a 97-93 win over Golden State. The standout main rotation players in this one were probably Jared Sullinger and DeMarre Carroll.
Carroll led the team with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting, 4 rebounds and 4 steals in his 19 minutes. He was all over the court all night, and did not look like he was battling an injury at all (or even rounding into shape after one). Meanwhile, Jonas Valanciunas and Sullinger both did little offensively (combined 10 points on 8 shots with 6 turnovers) but were all over the boards, with Sullinger grabbing 10 in his 23 minutes and Valanciunas 7 in his 15 minutes. These two are going to be a handful for opposing front courts.
DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry were fairly absent (and very rusty), combining to shoot 5-for-18 from the field with 7 assists combined. DeRozan did manage this fast break dunk though.
Off the bench, Terrence Ross and Cory Joseph both had solid games. Joseph was good all night, putting up 9 points, 2 assists and no turnovers in 15 minutes, and hit his only three point attempt -- this buzzer beater to close the third quarter.
Ross looked very aggressive, scoring well off the dribble and ended up stuffing the stat sheet with 11 points (on 5-of-9 shooting), 2 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals, including this nice reverse.
In terms of young players, Pascal Siakam in particular stood out, scoring 9 points on 7 shots, 6 rebounds, an assist, a steal and 2 blocked shots in his 21 minutes, a performance reminiscent of his short-lived success in the D-League before getting hurt. Thankfully he escaped unscathed from this game, and even managed the game-icing putback layup to put the Raps up 4 with 8 seconds to go.
On the other side of the court, Kevin Durant had a rough start to his Warriors career, as he shot 2-of-9 for 9 points, and had 3 turnovers to go with his 3 assists in 18 minutes. Steph Curry was also a little rusty (1-of-5 from distance, 8 points), though Klay Thompson had a decent game (16 points in 18 minutes while shooting 4-of-11 from three).
Overall, a fun start to the pre-season.