Rapid Recap: Celtics slaughter Raptors wholesale with spot-on shooting and ball movement

NBA: Toronto Raptors at Boston Celtics

The Celtics looked more like the team fans expect to see for a Thursday night smackdown of the Raptors, in which they never surrendered the lead en route to a 120-106 victory. Blazing-hot offense in the first quarter gave way to some defensive indifference in the second, though not enough for Boston to surrender its advantage to Toronto. The second half had a similar dynamic: heavy Cs firepower to start, then some hairy stretches at the top of the 4th but not enough for the Raptors to change the inevitable.

Toronto’s fatal flaw lay in a defensive strategy where they denied Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum shot opportunities and left virtually every other Celtic wide open. This only really worked in Jaylen’s case, keeping him to a 12-5-10-2 line while Jayson got 17-6-9-2. Therein lies the story of the night: The Jays kicked the ball out whenever surrounded, letting Semi Ojeleye, Kemba Walker and Payton Pritchard bomb away from deep. Yes, I typed those names right, and they respectively amassed 24, 21 and 20 points.

We’ll dig a little deeper in tomorrow’s rational thoughts. Below, dig some highlights, commentary and assorted Twitter ephemera:

I would not have put either of the above on my bingo card for this game, that’s for sure.

I admit his performance tonight was making me forget the (numerous) missed threes of years past!

https://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/1360040230380843008?s=20

 

Also, as good as the Celtics looked on both ends in the third quarter, they WERE a part of one of the wilder, Keystone Kops-ass moments of basketball this season:

https://twitter.com/efraincarmelo/status/1360049595548590080?s=20

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