2022-2023 POST GAME TORANTO - HOME

Celtics Wrap: Shorthanded Boston Beats Brakes Off Raptors
This one got ugly quick

NESN by Keagan Stiefel

The Boston Celtics completed a two-game sweep of the Toronto Raptors on Friday night, leaving TD Garden with a 121-102 victory.

The C’s improved to 56-25, while the Raptors fell to 40-41.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
The Celtics didn’t have anything to play for in this one, as they entered locked into the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Raptors had everything to play for, as they were still fighting to stay alive in the playoff hunt.

You wouldn’t know either of those things by watching this game.

Boston put together an absolute but whooping, despite entering the meaningless matchup down Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon. The Celtics built up a 28-point lead by halftime, connecting on 15-of-15 two-point field goal attempts, becoming the first team over the last 25 seasons to shoot 100% on two-pointers in a single half, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Though they did end up turning it over 19 times, this game was never even close. The Celtics were up by so much in the fourth, Jayson Tatum and company were seen doing the wave on the bench. That’s how you know it was ugly… for Toronto that is.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Sam Hauser, yes that Sam Hauser, had TD Garden rocking with his play. The 25-year-old finished with 26 points, five rebounds and two assists.

— Tatum only needed one half (20 minutes) to drop 21 points, four assists and three rebounds. If he sits out the season finale Sunday, Tatum will become the first player in Celtics history to average 30 points per game.

— Robert Williams III was superb yet again, finishing with eight points, nine rebounds, three blocks and two steals in just 25 minutes.

WAGER WATCH
White was given +100 odds to surpass 4.5 total assists by DraftKings Sportsbook pregame. He surpassed that number quickly, finishing with 10, netting a $200 payout for $100 bettors.

UP NEXT
The Celtics will close their regular season schedule when they host the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday. Tipoff from TD Garden is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.

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"but whooping"?

That's an old phrase they just made up!

White men can jump but Grant Williams can't.

Geez, Hauser and Pritchard were tremendous. They are both good solid NBA players. I love Pritchard's speed and ball handling. It's just so tough for him to get PT with Smart, D White and Brogdon ahead of him. I still maintain that there could a playoff game that he comes up big for us. I hope he can remain a Celtic, but there has to be other teams out there that use his talents.

This game was played with all our starters except for Jaylen, and it wasn't close.  The sound you're hearing is the hopes of Raptor fans being crushed by a Celtic green piano being dropped out the window onto them.  Whatever they were thinking after the previous game, and we know what some of them were thinking from the Comments From The Other Side thread, it was all slammed home last night.

The line was Toronto -2.0?  Really?!  Celtic fans made a bundle betting on this game.

Hauser in the house.  "Game high scorer Sam Hauser".  I never thought I'd ever say those words.  My beef with Sam is that he only seems to play like this when he starts, and he's starting on the team only when we've got serious injuries.  Nevertheless, credit where credit due, he was 10-16 and 6-12 from 3 for 26.  That makes him 4-4 from 2, and that's pretty damn good.  People making a big deal about Sam dunking 3X.  He's 6'8".  He might not get up as quickly as others but if he's wide-open where's the surprise that he can?




"Game 2nd highest scorer Payton Pritchard".  This is a day of firsts.  His 5 assists and only 1 turnover is the eye-opener for me.  We all know he can shoot.  Remember the last Comments From The Other Side thread, where they were grateful that Pritchard was out because they see him as a "Raptor killer"?  Maybe they're onto something.



Sam Hauser AND Payton Pritchard podium games.  "Curiouser and curiouser", said Alice.


Crazy good shooting.  They had 11 more fgas, 12 fewer turnovers, 8 more steals (which are, effectively, live turnovers) but we croaked them anyway with more 3pt fgas (only slightly better fg%, 34% vs 29%) but 55.6% overall shooting vs 43%.  We shot, get this, 30-37 from 2.   81%.  I'm not sure I've ever heard of an NBA game where one team shot 80+% from 2.

37 assists on 45 fgm = 82.2%.  More craziness.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401469361


Bob


.

PP is the ultimate 'pace setter' for the Celtics.