2022-2023 POST GAME TORONTO - AWAY

Celtics Wrap: Despite Injury Pile Up, Boston Improves Win Streak
No Tatum, Smart and Williams III, no problem


NESN by Keagan Stiefel

The Celtics improved their winning streak to nine-consecutive games, securing a 106-104 victory over the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena.

The Celtics improved their NBA-best record to 35-12 while the Raptors dropped to 20-27.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
Injuries piled up for the Celtics on Saturday afternoon, essentially forcing interim coach Joe Mazzulla to roll with a number of unfamiliar lineups and enter the unknown for the majority of the night.

Somehow, it worked out.

After entering the game without Jayson Tatum, the Celtics eventually ruled out both Marcus Smart and Robert Williams III at halftime due to respective lower-body injuries. That opened up opportunities for Payton Pritchard, Luke Kornet and Blake Griffin off the bench, but more notably, increased the roles of Malcolm Brogdon and Grant Williams.

Those two, alongside a recently returning Jaylen Brown, were forced into running the Celtics offense against a pesky Raptors defense. Their consistent shot making and tremendous defensive intensity in the fourth quarter, which started with an 22-8 Celtics run.

Toronto made it far from easy, needing to win a jump ball to get one final shot at the win. Horford won two in a row, but an offensive foul gave the Raptors a chance to go up the court, but Horford stole the ball for a ninth-consecutive victory.

In a season full of quality wins, Saturday’s is one of the most impressive.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Brogdon was the Celtics’ best ball handler, running the offense on a number of stretches. He finished with 23 points, seven rebounds, a steal and a block.

— Precious Achiuwa was tremendous for Toronto. He had 17 points, 11 rebounds, two steals and three blocks in the losing effort.

— Grant Williams was superb in his extended opportunity off the bench. The 24-year-old finished with a career-high 25 points, adding five rebounds and a block.

— Pritchard gets the nod as an extra star, hitting some insanely clutch shots down the stretch. He was 4 of 7 from three, finishing with 12 points, two rebounds and two assists.

WAGER WATCH
Scottie Barnes opened up the scoring, cashing the first basket prop in which DraftKings Sportsbook gave him +800 odds. The early lay in netted a +900 payout for those who placed +100 bets.

UP NEXT
The Celtics will continue their three-game road trip when they take on the Orlando Magic on Monday night. Tipoff from Amway Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.

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Loved this win. Very concerned about all the injuries that we piled up. Hoping that we will have one of the three back on Monday.

Shout out to JB, Brogdon, Grant and Big Al!

PP value to this team was on display.

No way I would trade him.

I am beginning to worry that we will never get the “whole” Rob Williams for any stretch of time. I know it would cost to get another backup, but is it time to make a deal somewhere. Problem is, I do not want to give up anyone and whoever is trading with us is going to want to pick our pocket of a young player plus whatever.

This was one of the more impressive victories of this year.  Down a J the whole game, down 7 at the half and then lose our top 2 defensive players for the entire 2nd half and we still prevailed.

I'm giving the game ball to Grant.  We needed to find points to replace Jayson's and Grant had a career high 26 points on 7-13, 4-6 from 3.  They really had trouble figuring him out.  I can't wait to read the Comments From The Other Side thread.  They are going to be going nuts about "fat" Grant Williams and "how punchable his face is".  I can guarantee you every one of those comments came immediately after he beat them.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that I have no idea how Brad and Wyc are going to be able to afford to keep him.

Pritchard is another trade deadline showcaser.  4-7 from the field, 4-7 from downtown Toronto.  I'm going to miss him.  Yes, I'm saying I think he's gone.  RWill's injury history is making another back up center more of a priority, not to mention another wing to back up Tatum, and Payton's making himself look very good.  He hit 4 3s in the 4th quarter.  Here's how they were recorded on Yahoo Sports:

10:57  Payton Pritchard makes 30-foot three point jumper (Derrick White assists) 87-85

8:13  Payton Pritchard makes 25-foot three point jumper (Grant Williams assists) 95-89

5:56   Payton Pritchard defensive rebound 98-93
5:53  Payton Pritchard makes 27-foot three point shot (Malcolm Brogdon assists) 101-93

4:33  Scottie Barnes bad pass (Payton Pritchard steals) 101-95

1:30  Payton Pritchard makes 26-foot three point jumper (Jaylen Brown assists) 106-103

48.1  Payton Pritchard offensive rebound 106-104

Payton didn't come out of the game in the 4th quarter until there were just 6 seconds left.  All 12 of his points came in the 4th, and look at from what range!  The closest one was 25'.  But you know what might the best part of this?  His 4 fgm were assisted by 4 different players.  That's ball movement.


On the other hand we got a second straight Coaches - DNP for Sam.  Would I rather trade Sam instead of Pritchard?  Yes, but I'm not sure how much we can get for Hauser.  I'm starting to feel more confident about Payton's trade value.

Souichi Terada @SouichiTerada
1 hour ago
Payton Pritchard: "I wouldn’t be in the position I am today without having a tough mindset. A lot of people look at me and I’m (a) 6-foot-1 white American guard, a lot of us aren’t there. So we gotta be tough and bring it every day."

Steve Bulpett @SteveBHoop
yesterday
Western Conf exec on phone this afternoon wanting to talk about Payton Pritchard. Told him he has a tremendous capacity for confidence, even with limited opportunity. Joked, "It's the kind of confidence you usually only see in psychopaths." After DNP v GS, hits 4 huge 3's v TOR.


Brogdon coming off the bench and playing like a starter.  Not only has he mentally and emotionally bought into the Celtic 6th Man role, he is executing it to perfection.



Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 2 hours ago
That was the first road win for the Celtics without Jayson Tatum in three years. (January 2020 at Miami). They had lost seven straight.


Raptor fans must be feeling sick tonight.  They're healthy, other than VanVleet, while we were down 3 starters for the entire 2nd half, and they couldn't beat us at home.  They have to realize that if they couldn't beat us now they don't deserve to be in the playoffs.  They need some real personnel changes.  I expect them to be sellers come the trade deadline.  I wonder if they'd take Sam for Boucher?


Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 1 hour ago
The Celtics began the week 2-10 this year when trailing by 11 or more. They trailed by 11 in all three games this week... ...and won all three. (There have been six 9-game win streaks in the NBA this year...the Celtics now have two of them.)

Philly is 4 games behind us in the loss column.  Milwaukee and Brooklyn are 5 games back in the loss column.  Now we need to be rooting for anybody to beat Denver and Memphis.

Souichi Terada @SouichiTerada
about 3 hours ago
funny postgame moment from Jaylen Brown: "We're a team. It doesn't matter who rolls the ball out or which team is doing what. I got my money on the C's ... I don't know if I can say that."


https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401468847




Bob


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Starting to see those things that are reminding me and hopefully all of us of the 60's, 80's and 2008.  The "finding a way to win" mantra is starting to come back in vogue.  When all your top two defensive guys go down, the rest of the team plays next man up.  Well, we went next men up.  P-Squared, Brogden, G-Dub.   All excellent games.  

We gutted another one out.  We raised the bar just another notch.  

I'm with Rosalie in that I don't think we're ever going to see a full season of RWIII if the past to date is any indicator. That's the saddest thing of all.  For Brad, the what to do before the trade deadline decision is one of the decisions during the season or just for an organization that will determine if we get a banner this season or not.  And of course the problem is, whether we make a move or not, we won't know if that was the right decision or not until we either win the very last game of the playoffs or lose a 4th game in a series.  High stakes chess match for sure.  

But we are seeing this team put it together right before our very eyes.  When we can do what we did last night, again sans the slight disarray at the end of the game with top two defensive players out for the 2nd half and come out with a victory and have Al running off the court like he did, we're heading in the right direction in a hurry.  

Now, with no rest for the weary and thanks to the Barney Fife, we clearly, CLEARLY have a R-E-V-E-N-G game on our hands tomorrow.  And on the road no less.  Perfect.  Keep 'em comin'!!  I think the Celtics have the fever.  They need more cowbell!!

db

P.S.  I'm no doctor but I play one on TV, I didn't see anything that looked real damaging to MS.  Yes he twisted his ankle but this is Marcus Freakin' Smart!  He eats injuries like this for breakfast.  RWIII he just never came back in the game from what I thought I saw.  Probably just the Celtics being overly cautious.  I'd be surprised if I didn't see both of them and JT back Monday.  At least JT and MS. MS won't sit out. Worcester, what did you see?

Winners all the way down our lineup.

Amazing win!!

Pritchard is always ready and can get hot at any given time. He's definitely a microwave. He's such an important piece to the team because of his shooting and speed, just adds a dimension we need. The kid probably deserves to play more, but it's just a numbers game. I love his attitude.

On the other end of the spectrum was the old veteran. Al just made big play after big play. He's such an important part of the team.

Grant was great and really you got to give credit to everyone, they all played their tails off. Just loved this win.

Coach Joe seemed to indicate that neither Rob or Marcus are seriously injured. Hopefully we dodged a bullet.

There is a reason why the 82 game NBA season is grueling.

Injuries are part of the game.  Just take a look at the NBA injury report.  All 30 teams have someone that is questionable or out.

Early reports on RW hyperextended knee indicates that it will not be a long term problem.  

Marcus Smart may miss some time with the high ankle sprain.

While us fans may lament over guys getting hurt, the team has a next man up mentality.  Last night's road win against that pain in the arse Raptors team highlights that mentality and serves to put a measuring stick up against the depth that is quite apparent.

I am of the mindset that the Celtics do not have to make a trade by moving a player.  Adding another depth piece to a team with an open roster spot can and should be executed.

Sam Hauser has fallen into the DNP category.  Today's DNP can be tomorrow's short minute rotation guy that knocks down a shot or two.

Pritchard has more than his share of DNP's but it is not because he is a scrub.  We are 3 deep at PG and that is great depth to have until a guy like Marcus turns and ankle.  Now we are 4 deep at the point and Payton gets an opportunity to remind us that he brings energy and he can knock down the 3 ball with the game on the line.

The only folks that should be concerned about this team are on other teams.

Gutty road win, teams depth came thru, great to see GWill and Brogdon step up along with Jaylen and great seeing Pritch in a zone. Pritch will have a long career in the NBA, his skillset is needed in this league, hopefully he’ll be able to do this with us.

Just wanted to add Al was great too, doing yeoman work playing great defense against their talented frontline.