TORONTO — For a team that is defending the NBA title, things have been pretty quiet for the Boston Celtics this season.
The Celtics started the season 21-5, bettering their record from last season by winning 20 of their first 26 games, and continued to outpace the rest of the Eastern Conference with a 64-18 record before going 16-3 in the playoffs.
But the Celtics didn’t get much attention as the Cleveland Cavaliers got off to a better start in the East and the Oklahoma City Thunder tied the score in the West. Meanwhile, Boston’s championship hangover finally kicked in, and the Celtics went 11-10 over the next six weeks, thanks in part to cold three-point shooting and some lethargic defense.
But the big teams can smell the finish line. The Celtics came into Toronto on Tuesday night as one of the hottest teams in the NBA, having won nine of their previous 10 outings as they look to defend their title.
For the Raptors, it was an opportunity, head coach Darko Rajakovic thought. What better way to find out where you stand than to play a team that’s playing at its best?
“I think you get excited when you play teams and players like this,” Rajakovic said before the game. “You can see the guys, they’re even more focused than usual. They really want to play. They’re looking forward to playing the best team, last season’s NBA champions. So there’s a lot of motivation there.” And that brings a lot of alertness and energy into the game that’s needed to play against them like that.”
The scoreboard never lies: Boston (42-16) won 111-101 to take the season series with the Raptors 4-0. But the Raptors (18-40) held on until the final moments of the fourth quarter.
“I thought our guys played extremely hard,” Rajakovic said before his team headed to the airport to fly to Indianapolis to begin a four-game road trip with the Pacers on Wednesday night.
RJ Barrett had 22 points, eight rebounds and three assists, while Scottie Barnes added 21 points, three rebounds and six assists. Boston got 24 points from Jaylen Brown and 22 points from Derrick White.
Okay, beyond the final score, how do the Raptors stack up against one of the NBA’s elite teams?
Based on on a February night and my own completely unscientific criteria, here’s my impression of where the Raptors stand against the defending champions:
STAR QUALITY
Perhaps the Celtics’ biggest advantage is that they have a lot of stars, although how you define that word determines the quantity. The Celtics’ top superstar is Jayson Tatum, who is almost certain to win his fifth All-NBA honor and fourth straight year in
points per game (26.8), rebounds per game (8.8), and assists per game (5.7).
The Raptors can only hope that Scottie Barnes will be to them what Tatum is to Boston. They have many similarities as big, athletic wings who can punish smaller opponents with bully balls. But Tatum’s game is more varied: His three-point shooting (37.6 percent for his career) is better than the league average, and he’s shooting threes from all angles while averaging 10 attempts per game this season.
Tatum made 3 of 12 on Tuesday. But perhaps most encouraging from Boston’s perspective is that he’s still growing. Tatum’s 11 assists against Toronto marked the fourth time in nine games that he’s had double-digit assists, and he had another game with nine assists. He’s on pace to hit a career high. Celtics insiders point to Tatum’s passing as a big factor in Boston’s recent surge.
Barnes had his moments against the Celtics. His best came in the first half, when he dropped his shoulders and drove to the rim multiple times. It’s the kind of power that collapses defenses and allows Barnes to use his passing ability to have a bigger impact.
Barnes’ shooting has room to improve. He was 0-of-5 from the field against Boston and is currently shooting 26.4 percent from the field. Going forward, he’ll have to either improve that shooting range or come up with an alternative plan. In his fourth season, Barnes’ potential is still clear, but there’s a big gap between where he is now and where Tatum has been over the past four or five years.
Advantage: Boston
TEAM SHOOTING
This is an easy one. Boston is on pace to break the NBA record for three-pointers made and made this season. They are scoring 48.3 points per game and scoring nearly 54 points per game from behind the line. Boston has eight players averaging at least 1.8 three-pointers per game. The Raptors are second-lowest in the NBA in three-pointers made (33.0) and made (11.7), and only three players are making more than 1.8 per game.
The Celtics didn’t even have a particularly good shooting night — they hit just 15 of 51, for a rate of 29.4 percent — but when they make that many shots, it hardly matters. They can flare up and cool down multiple times in a 48-minute game.
Boston jumped out to a strong lead in the first quarter, making 5 of 11 long-range shots while the Raptors made 0 of 9. Boston went cold after that, but their two three-pointers in the fourth quarter — both by White — kept the Raptors within striking distance.
Advantage: Boston
DEPTH
Boston was without two of its big men in Al Horford and Luke Kornet when the Celtics learned at the last minute that Kristaps Porzingis would be ruled out due to illness. They were also without guard Jrue Holiday, who was rested for the first night of back-to-back games.
The Raptors were only missing center Jakob Poeltl (hip) from their regular lineup (Rajakovic said his return date was “very close.” Toronto was also without Brandon Ingram, but since he hasn’t played for Toronto yet and his ankle sprain will be re-evaluated in two weeks, it’s hard to count him out.
Anyway, even without so many key players, Boston was able to win because the Celtics got enough from their secondary. Reserve point guard Payton Pritchard played 35 minutes, starting in the second quarter and was excellent, with 20 points, seven rebounds and two assists. The 6-footer’s offensive rebound and layup to White for a three-pointer with just over two minutes left was a blow. Boston got some good minutes from reserve big man Neemias Queta – eight points and five rebounds in 20 minutes,
though Still, the Raptors got plenty of input from their bench. Rajakovic had five bench players play at least 14 minutes, and as a group, they shot 15 of 26 from the field and were +4 overall for the night. None of the Raptors bench players are ready for the role Pritchard has filled for Boston, but you can see some promise.
Pros: Even-handed
DEFENSE
With the Celtics missing all three of their main bigs and missing Holiday, their best point guard, it’s perhaps no surprise that the Raptors were able to shoot 50.6 percent from the field overall even while missing 28 three-pointers. But the Celtics showed their pedigree when they felt the urge to assert themselves.
In the first quarter, they forced the Raptors into a shot clock violation and a desperate three-point attempt at the buzzer that could have been a shot clock violation. In the fourth quarter, they made the plays they needed to make, like Tatum pulling the ball away from Gradey Dick and then forcing Immanuel Quickley to foul again on consecutive plays in the final 2:25.
But the Raptors’ defensive effort was commendable, especially without Poeltl. Barnes again shouldered a big load, playing alongside Tatum and Brown and making his presence felt. Toronto kept the Celtics at the line — they had just eight free throws — and ended their possessions with rebounds. There was a bit of confusion on a turnover at the baseline, where it looked like Dick was slow to react to the final play, a Queta layup that put Boston up by nine points with 3:19 left, but for the most part Toronto’s defensive engagement was more than adequate.
If Boston hadn’t missed 36 threes, it might have been a different story, but the Raptors don’t have to look at their defense and turn a blind eye.
Advantage: Boston (but only slightly)
EFFORT AND COMPOSITION
The problem isn’t that Boston lost this category, it’s that the Raptors won. It seemed like every play a different Raptor was coming down the court, most memorably when Dick came out of bounds in the first quarter and somehow saved the ball with a behind-the-back pass to Chris Boucher, or in the fourth quarter when Ochai Agbaji came down again and appeared to save the ball, even though the referees ruled otherwise.
When Jonathan Mogbo fought for the rebound and scored Dick’s third, the latter credited Mogbo with the effort.
Boston moved the ball and made plays and certainly played aggressively enough to win. But for a team that’s 18-40 on the season, the Raptors’ connection and hustle are impressive and will be a building block going forward.
