2022-2023 POST GAME TORANTO - HOME

Celtics Wrap: Shorthanded Boston Gets Job Done Vs. Raptors
The Celtics were without three starters

NESN by Greg Dudek

Toronto Raptors

BOSTON — Even though the Boston Celtics were shorthanded Wednesday night, they didn’t stumble and earned a 97-93 win over the Toronto Raptors at TD Garden.

The Celtics improved their record to 55-25 while the Raptors now stand at 40-40 on their season.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
Raptors head coach Nick Nurse was impressed with the depth of the Celtics prior to the game, and he got to witness it up close Wednesday.

The Celtics were down three starters — Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart and Al Horford — on the second night of a back-to-back, which usually is a recipe for a scheduled loss but the Celtics managed to get enough contributions to pull off the win.

While the supporting cast chipped in, it was the slightly different main cast of Jaylen Brown, Malcolm Brogdon, Derrick White and a sprinkling of Robert Williams, who played his most minutes in more than a month, that spearheaded the Celtics.

With the amount of talent the Celtics can put out on the floor even when they are missing key pieces, it has to make a coach like Nurse envious.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Brogdon was magnificent off the bench yet again. He netted 29 points, including scoring the last seven Boston points to end the third quarter as part of a key sequence to keep Toronto at bay. Brogdon also recorded five rebounds and three assists.

— Brown had to play a leading role with Tatum out and notched 25 points to go along with 11 rebounds and five assists.

— Pascal Siakam tried to will the Raptors back after trailing by 13 points in the third quarter. He poured in 28 points on 10-of-17 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds.

WAGER WATCH
FanDuel Sportsbook set White’s over/under for points at 14.5 with -104 odds on the Over. White hit the Over by tallying 17 points, as a $100 wager on the prop bet would have netted a total of $196.15.

UP NEXT
The Celtics will see the Raptors again Friday to close out their regular season series with Toronto. Tipoff from TD Garden is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.

112288

I was impressed with the grit and determination. Small observation: A guy like Muscala is pretty much an afterthought come playoff time, but you pick him up to eat minutes and maybe contribute to winning a game or two. He did just that tonight. Obvious stetement: Malcolm Brogdon is one cool customer. The Wyatt Earp mustache suits him perfectly.

This short-handed win secured us the #2 seed (Milwaukee locked up the #1 spot with their win).  After several very painful weeks of watching them go south like a duck in winter, where they lost their #1 spot to Milwaukee, we're playing well again.

Down 3 starters and we beat a healthy #9 seed.  After years of reading Comments From The Other Side threads by Raptor fans when they were better than us, crowing about their ability to beat us, I am looking forward to seeing the light come on over their collective heads that they're not good now.  Speak well of those you see on your way up because you'll be seeing them again on the way down.

Once again I tip my hat to Brad.  If last night's performances by Malcolm Brogdon and Derrick White didn't convince you that Brad knows his job then I just don't know what will (although I reserve the right to bitch about him not signing someone at the trade deadline for depth behind Tatum.  No, I do not consider Champagnie "quality depth").  46 of our 97 points came from those two pick ups that, as I continually remind us, Brad got for Romeo, Josh, Theis, Nesmith and some picks that we don't need anyway because we're not in rebuild mode anymore.  Those 4 players combined wouldn't score Derrick's 17 points and, if they did, it would be mostly because of Josh with some help from Theis.

But Brogdon was something else last night.  He's not particularly fast nor athletic, but he is pretty strong in his upper body and can hold his line to the basket once he gets his shoulders past his man, and his crossover gets him that.  Clearly his best game as a Celtic.  29 points on 10-19, 4-6 from 3, 5-6 from the line.  He is the perfect 6th Man right now.  He's the guy we hoped Payton would grow into (and still might, just probably not with us).  A very smart player who knows his limitations and knows how to get what he wants.

“Being in Boston, being a Celtic fits me perfectly.” - Malcolm Brogdon



Jaylen was 1-9 from 3 (Jeez!  Stop shooting them when they aren't dropping!) but was 12-29 overall, for a 11-20 2pt night.  His 11 rebounds and 25 points helped Malcolm and Derrick carry us.  Clearly it's good to be mid-20s and uber -athletic because Jaylen is observing Ramadan, which means no food or liquids from sunrise until sundown, and he still goes out and drops 25.  When I was his age I was constantly grazing so I cannot wrap my head around how he's doing this.

Jaylen was awarded the Red Auerbach Award, which is given to the Celtic player who best exemplifies excellence on and off the court, last night.  With all the media BS about him leaving and all this recognition by the organization couldn't have come at a better time, almost suspiciously timely.  Whatever works, I say.  In his post-game presser he said some very nice things about receiving this recognition and about how he has given 100% to this team, this organization and to the city of Boston since he came here.  Doesn't sound like someone who's counting the days before he bails, does it Perk?




Moose with a nice 12 points and 6 rebounds in 32 minutes.  3-5 from 3.  He's not a game changer but he's our, what, 12th man?  5th big after Al, RWill, Kornet and Blake?  That's solid depth.

10-18 from the line isn't going to cut it in the playoffs.  I know, for some reason, poor frito shooting is contagious.  When one player starts missing they all do, and I've never understood that, but we need to work that kink out soon.  We're going to need as many points as we can get in the playoffs, avoiding empty possessions as much as possible, and hitting our layups and fritos is how you do that.

Sam was 1-8 from 3 last night, but he had a block and his defense and rebounding were quite solid. Never thought I'd be saying that but here we are. He also had 4 assists and zero turnovers.

The trick to beating Toronto is to not let them run on you, which they will try to do at every, single opportunity. Transition defense is key. They had 20 fast break points vs 17 for us. Considering fast breaking is their trump (small "t") card I consider a 3 point deficit in that category a win.

The largest lead in this game was 13, by us, so this game was always within reach for them and a gut check for us. We showed something by gritting this win out. Joe played 9 players. With 3 starters out that means he went 12 deep on our roster. With Champagnie not with the team yet, and Payton out with wtf is his problem, that meant that only our two-way players Davison and Kabengele didn't play (and Gallo, of course, so there's our 15 + 2). We beat a play-in, which is technically a playoff game, team going straight down to the end of our available regular roster bench.

VanVleet 1-12 from 3.  Anybody want an undersized (6'1") 34% 3pt shooter for $23M (next year)?  Despite all the talk about him he's a career 37% 3pt shooter, and that's pretty mediocre for a player for whom that's his calling card.  Thanks, I'll pass.


Bob


.

Nice win, considering all the guys that didn't play. Brogdon and D White are just tremendous. I hope they give these guys some time off the next two meaningless games.

It should be interesting to see how Coach Joe plays the next two games. Do JT and JB play at all? What about keeping them sharp? What about Rob? I think Sunday you might see the starters for the first half, but just a guess. Friday night will probably be a bench game.

After last night's win, the Celtics are playing with house money.

Time to heal up and get the team ready.

CJ is calling timeouts when needed and the team has turned things up on the defensive side of the ball.  RW is back and his impact is front and center.

The Celtics will head into the playoffs with more experience and more depth than last year.  There are several quality teams out there but I think Boston is the best team.

I would like to see a series against Miami, Philly and Milwaukee.  Same teams from last year in a different order.

Considering how shorthanded we were, very good hard earned victory over a very good athletic deep team with plethora of wings and very good 4-5 too. Those guys Siakim, Achiuwa, Scottie Barnes can run all day and defend all over and dunk like crazy. If we could add one of those guys, we’d be a dynasty. We did it without our best player and best defender and we still executed enough to win

Thank God the end of the season is upon us and the playoffs are looming. Like everyone here, I've had enough of the rotating line ups, B2B's sitting people out, injuries, tinkering, etc., etc.

It's playoff time. All hands on deck. No excuses. This is what all the player management has been for. That had best be done with. Injuries, too. There is no tomorrow.

Now if any of the other teams experience injuries, that's ok!! Just not us for the next 24-30 games! We're good!!

The spotlight is clearly on the players and to some degree the coach. Players know what they have to do. So does the coach. Now get on it!!!

db

Correction

We played Crooklyn but not silly philly

dbrown4 wrote:Thank God the end of the season is upon us and the playoffs are looming.  Like everyone here, I've had enough of the rotating line ups, B2B's sitting people out, injuries, tinkering, etc., etc.  

It's playoff time.  All hands on deck.  No excuses.  This is what all the player management has been for.  That had best be done with.  Injuries, too.  There is no tomorrow.

Now if any of the other teams experience injuries, that's ok!!  Just not us for the next 24-30 games!  We're good!!

The spotlight is clearly on the players and to some degree the coach.  Players know what they have to do.  So does the coach.  Now get on it!!!

db  

It has been a long and short season.  That's the long and short of it.

You see, each year as I get older time seems to go by faster.

As none of us fans knows for certain how things will turn out my main concerns have pretty much been reduced.  The players have responded well to the ups and downs of the season, especially when it comes to the litany of injuries that once again has plagued the team.  CJ enters his first playoff coaching challenge with a positive attitude.  His game management has improved significantly. He is calling timeouts when the team needs a timeout. As a fan watching a game, you develop a feel for when the team needs a reset. Now we see those resets occurring throughout the entire game and most notably in closeout situations.  He was not doing that earlier in the season.  He even mentioned the importance of the midrange game in his post game Raptors discussion.  His animation on the sidelines has also increased.  His intensity seems to be more externalized.  Anyways we need for him to be a damn good coach to get #18 this year.  In many respects, this regular season journey has prepared him and his team for tough as nails playoff competition.

Post game Prosperity:


Joey didn’t like being “accidentally” bumped by an opposing player and immediately without hesitation responded in “F around and find out” mode.
If he hadn’t been stopped some furniture in the building was about to be rearranged.

Undevided attention: His players took full notice of it and that’s a great thing.

New nickname till end of July: Coach Joey “Don’t let my rookie status fool ya”
Mazzulla.

(DLMRSFY)

Post Game Pet Peeve:

Amina Smith please hurry back.
Tom Giles’ fill in cup is beginning to *runneth over.

*Happy Easter y’all !