We often wonder what opposing teams, their beat reporters and bloggers are saying about the Celtics. Here’s a look at some enemy chatter from Toronto.
In the fourth quarter, Valanciunas rode shotgun to DeRozan. Trailing by nine with six minutes remaining, DeRozan brought back glimpses of the opening two weeks of the season. Without Avery Bradley in the lineup, the Celtics had no way of diverting DeRozan away from his desired spots on the floor.
Post-ups against the puny Isaiah Thomas, tough turnaround jumpers and finishes over a decidedly non-vertical Kelly Olynyk translated into 12 fourth quarters points on 5-of-6 shooting. Before that game-swinging personal run, Toronto’s leading scoring notched another 19 in the third to keep his team afloat.
Some nights I bitch about the officiating, some nights I complain about the inability of Kelly Olynyk to play without falling down, and some nights I simply tip my cap to the opposition.
DeMar DeRozan was spectacular. The best thing about his execution of the C’s was his demeanor. Just an absolutely calm, cool killer. No antics. Love that.
Jonus Valanciunas was nearly as good. Watching him dominate the paint had me dreaming of the next green giant (Andrew Bogut?). Defending the 3-point line is all well and good, but we need someone who can turn away shots at the rim.
Quick question…
[polldaddy poll=9633902]Photo courtesy: Ron Turenne/NBAE
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
