Since the offseason, the question of who’d take the second playoff seed in the East has been debated with some contention by NBA junkies. The Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors, with nearly identical win-loss records, are atop the league in fourth-quarter offense and efficiency, and it was obvious this contest would come down to the final seconds. Or it should have, but Boston came up short on both ends of the floor when it counted most at the end.
THE GAME FLOW
Back-and-forth offense dominated the early minutes of this showdown of top-tier East teams. For the Raptors, the undeniable Kyle Lowry/DeMar DeRozan backcourt did much of the work, with Jonas Valanciunas taking advantage of Boston’s lacking rim protection. The Celtics got their punch from the Isaiah Thomas/Marcus Smart backcourt, although with Smart in place of Avery Bradley the same level of offense was in no way guaranteed at the 2-spot.
It got tighter in the second, with Toronto losing its five-point lead from the end of Q1 to be about even with Boston around the quarter’s halfway point. Both sides showed carelessness with the ball, although the Celtics’ turnovers came off particularly sloppy passes and almost always came off steals. The charity stripe arguably served as the clearest point of demarcation, as Toronto’s mastery at getting to the line is as well-established as Boston’s difficulties in that department–at least in the first half. All that said, a run propelled by Trade-Bait Showcase Gerald Green, Isaiah and…well, Smart (I love when events contradict my initial claims), as well as Toronto forgetting how to score for 4 full minutes, got Boston a 9-point lead at the half.
At first, the Celtics’ rebounding issues weren’t an Achilles heel, as Toronto has them as well–Valanciunas racked up at least half of the team’s total boards. (This changed radically later.) Early in the third quarter, the Raptors defense basically took a lunch and Smart, Thomas and Kelly Olynyk all took advantage. An absence of impact from the Raptors bench also helped. Great as Lowry and DeRozan are, they should’t have to do everything themselves, and this weighed on DeRozan in the 3rd: He committed an uncharacteristic frustration foul on Jonas Jerebko and followed it up with a tech.
But the Raps got their shit together as the third quarter waned into the fourth, slicing a 12-point Celtics lead down to four. Toronto’s 3-point shots, which had been abysmal much of the game (not that Boston’s had been much better–), started to fall at the worst possible time for Boston, while Marcus cooled off from his hot start into old bad habits. But never count out Gerald Green–wait a second. *record-scratch* What? Yes. Seriously. Green has an athleticism and fuck-you swagger that, when it isn’t leading him to stupid decisions on or off the court, can pay off at critical moments, and it did tonight…and then he got a goaltend about 30 seconds later. Ecstasy, meet agony.
And then a 9-0 Raptors run happened, capped by a cold-as-ice Lowry 4-point play, and the Celtics’ lead evaporated. DeRozan had channeled his earlier frustration into a wild run of unstoppable straight-cash midrange shots, racking up a career-high 41 points. The few chances the Cs had to take back the game were disrupted by Toronto’s blocks, deflections and steals–not to mention a loss of offensive spark–and the pundits who keep shouting that Boston won’t go any further without another star got more ammunition for their arguments.
Remember earlier in the recap when I said Toronto’s rebounding wasn’t an issue? That changed in the second half. No Boston big men could effectively counter Valanciunas or, oddly, DeRozan, who together got 36 of the Raps’ 50 boards. Other than that…I mean, I could call out the blown goaltending call on Olynyk’s layup attempt or Gerald Green squandering his goodwill in crunch time, but the biggest issue is the one we’ve been a broken record about.
I keep coming back to Gerald Green. Perhaps I’m the victim of some inception campaign, possibly run by Celtics bloggers to bring up his stock among GMs so they take him in a trade. Who knows? Anyway, this I.T. lob and monster dunk ruled.
Gerald Green rises north of the border and comes down with the slam! How 'bout that IT ➡️ Green connection? https://t.co/eciRDdAt2k
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 11, 2017
Objectively, this shot was more contingent on I.T. being lucky than good. I don’t care. It’s awesome.
Isaiah Thomas. How in the WORLD did you make that shot?!
RT and get this man to the All-Star game! #NBAVote https://t.co/MJzQk8rQrY— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 11, 2017
THE GRID
Isaiah Thomas: 27 points despite meh 42 percent shooting, plus 1 board, 7 dimes and only one turnover. Honestly, this is the only Cs stat line worth highlighting despite the game being a close-ish 106-114 loss.
DeMar DeRozan: No assists (like his idol Kobe) but the rest is fire-emoji: 41 points while shooting 55 percent (earning only 8 at the line), along with 13 rebounds, 2 steals and a single turnover.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
