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January 24, 2008
Raptors Beat Celtics at Home 114 -112
The Toronto Raptors just scored the most points of the year against the vaunted Celtic defense.
It was only the 5th time this season that the Celtics allowed 100 or more points. The Raptors are also the best 3 point shooting team in the NBA. Tonight they showed why.
As Doc Rivers remarked in the post game interview...
(They shot) 58% (from the floor), 71% from the three, 100% from the foul line...at least the foul line, it wasn't guarded, I guess. They played great. I mean, give them all the credit, number one. They made every shot
The Celtics once again gave up a 4th quarter lead...at home. They were up 7 to start the 4th, got up as much as 8, and were up 7 with 5:06 left on a Paul Pierce 3 pointer. The Raptors outscored the Cs by 19-10 the rest of the way with Jose Calderon making the winning basket with 10 seconds left on a drive that picked Rondo off, then Pierce picked him up and fouled him for the 3 point play.
The Raptors had 4 players with 20 points or more tonight for the 4th time in their history. Jose Calderon played a superb game, netting a career high with 24 points on 8 -10 shooting and 3-4 from downtown, to go with 13 assists and 3 steals and the winning basket. The Raptors have 3 of the top 15 three point shooters in the NBA with Jason Kapono leading the league with a Kerr-like .505%. Carlos Delfino made 5 of 5 from downtown. Anthony Parker was 4 of 6 and Bargnani got things started with a few long shots. He finished 3 of 6 from downtown.
It wasn't a Boston 'Three Party'. It was Toronto's. They got the monkey off their back after three straight losses to the Celtics with declining scoring each time (95, 84, 77) Boing - another three and back to the top and the best offensive showing of the year against the league's top defense.
There were a number of conflicting stats and plays to sort through in analyzing this game.
1) The Celtics pounded the Raptors in points in the paint with 56-16.
2) Toronto was making an incredible amount of big 3 pointers (15-21)
3) The Celtics has 23 fastbreak points to zero for the Raptors
Yet, in the final seconds, Jose Calderon's winning basket was a drive (and foul) for a traditional three point play. The Celtics final shot was a miss in the paint by Ray Allen, after rebounding a missed Eddie House shot as time ran out.
3) The Raptors began by outrebounding the Celtics 7-3. The rest of the way the Cs outrebounded them 36-22 and had 16 offensive boards, led by Ray Allen with 4.
4) The Celtics caused 18 TO's against the 2nd best team in the league (11.93 TOs per) in taking care of the ball. Chris Bosh had 7 of them.
5) Tony Allen, in a starting unit of Pierce, Powe, House, Scalabrine and himself, led a Celtic charge to an eleven point lead in the 2nd quarter. Tony scored 14 straight Celtic points in 8 plus minutes.
So...though they killed Toronto in 4 major categories (boards, TOs, FB points, PIP), the hot outside shooting of Toronto was enough to negate all of that.
In figuring out what ultimately happened in this game, it comes down to two simple things:
a) The Celtic defense just wasn't up to par
b) 5 Toronto players made shots all game long
The hot outside shooting by multiple Toronto players caused some confusion on the Celtics according Ray Allen. They didn't know who to guard, as everyone was making shots.
The team seemed just a step slow most of the night on its rotations. Toronto made the Celtic defenders work harder by making multiple passes until they got a perimeter player a decent look. They played very well.
Kendrick Perkins was willing to step up and shoulder some blame, perhaps too much so.
Kendrick Perkins ...
I say it started with me. I set the tone on the defensive end. It just wasn't there tonight. I don't think we had the defensive energy... one through five. I don't think (the mind set was there). I don't think we accepted the challenge like we should.
True enough. I would add that, though the offense scored 112 itself, it wasn't pretty for large parts of the game. They were working hard and though they were passing, they were not crisp nor necessarily smart passes. There always seemed to be a Toronto defender right on the supposed shooter.
Neither Rajon Rondo, Chris Bosh nor Coach Mitchell thought that the Toronto defense was all that good. But my impression was that it, at times, looked pretty solid to me, regardless of the score or FG%. Many of the Celtic makes by Garnett were very difficult shots, often against 2 defenders, and kept the team in the ball game.
Garnett had a very solid, even impressive offensive game, finishing with a game high 26 points, 7 boards, and 5 assists. Pierce's shot was off a little, 8-20, for 19 points but he had 9 assists. Ray Allen added a solid 19 points on 7-16, including a huge make for the lead with 15 seconds left.
Glen Davis had a strong offensive game with 8 points in 11:35 minutes. But Chris Bosh shot right over him a few times, as Bosh had done with others tonight.
Rondo started the game on fire himself with 3 steals early on. He finished with 14 points on 7 of 13 with 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
The locker room was subdued as this was hard loss to take after leading by so much in the 4th. Ray Allen said it will be hard for him to sleep tonight, as he will think about that last missed shot at the end.
It was a very competitive game to watch with the teams changing leads a few times along the way. It was one of those heartbreakers to lose.
Garnett, Allen and Perkins all said they will watch film tomorrow on this game to see what they have to fix. There were a number of missed assignments all night.
Next up are the Minnesota 'Celtics' on Friday. They just beat Phoenix for a 2 game winning streak. Al Jefferson had a career high of 39 points in that game.
Posted by Tom on January 24, 2008 2:39 AM
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