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Rapid Reaction: Celtics 88, Raptors 83

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

BOSTON -- Rapid reaction after the Boston Celtics defeated the Toronto Raptors 88-83 on Wednesday night at TD Garden:

THE NITTY GRITTY
Celtics second-year center Jared Sullinger has been maybe the most vocal in his desire to snap the team's lengthy losing streak and he backed up that chatter against the Raptors, posting team highs with 25 points and 20 rebounds over 39 minutes of floor time (and he made enough free throws down the stretch to fend off the Raptors' charge). Avery Bradley scored 20 points on 8-of-21 shooting to go along with five rebounds, while Jeff Green added 13 points (despite 4-of-16 shooting) and five rebounds. DeMar DeRozan chipped in a team-high 23 points for Toronto, while Kyle Lowry added 18 points, 12 assists, and seven rebounds.

IM-PRESSEY-IVE PERFORMANCE
Without Rajon Rondo and having traded away Jordan Crawford earlier in the day, the Celtics inserted undrafted rookie Phil Pressey into the starting lineup at point guard and the 22-year-old responded with a 10-assist, 0-turnover effort over 26 minutes. Pressey didn't score (missing all five shots he took), but calmly directed the offense and grabbed three rebounds along the way.

C'S CLOSE THIRD QUARTER STRONG ...
The Celtics were up five midway through the third quarter, but scored 20 of the final 28 points of the frame to build a 17-point cushion. Sullinger sparked the effort by making all three shots he took while scoring nine points in that span, while Phil Pressey directed the offense for most of it and handed out three assists. But no lead is safe around here (see hashtag: #EveryGameIsAnAdventure)

... BUT LET RAPTORS MAKE A RUN
The Celtics went ice cold to start the fourth quarter. After a Brandon Bass dunk with 11:09 to go, Boston missed 11 of its next 12 shots (including nine in a row to start that stretch) and the Raptors embarked on a 16-2 run to charge within three with 4:34 to go.

LOOSE BALLS
The Celtics played with only 10 available bodies (and both Vitor Faverani and Kelly Olynyk played five minutes or less) as the team leaned hard on an eight-man core. ... Rondo was active, but it was just to get back in a game-prep rhythm with eyes still on a potential Friday return. That didn't stop the crowd from chanting "We Want Rondo" on multiple occasions. ... Keith Bogans, excused from the team indefinitely due to personal reasons on Tuesday, was active due to Boston's lack of bodies but not with the squad. ... The Celtics turned the ball over only two times in the first half. This was one of their best ball-security games of the season (10 turnovers for only seven points).

WHAT IT MEANS
The Celtics (14-26) snapped a nine-game losing streak while beating the team atop the Atlantic Division. Boston is hopeful Rondo will make his 2013-14 season debut when this three-game homestand wraps up on Friday with a visit from the Los Angeles Lakers. A three-game road trip looms after with stops in Orlando, Miami, and Washington.
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STREAK SNAPPED: CELTICS END NINE-GAME SLIDE WITH WIN OVER RAPTORS

WEEI - By Jackson Alexander 
 
With former starting point guard Jordan Crawford in a different uniform, backup guards MarShon Brooks (traded) and Keith Bogans (indefinite absence) out, and the Celtics trying to snap a prolonged losing streak against a solid Raptors (19-18) team, one would be excused for counting out Boston before tip-off.

However, Boston (14-26) avoided the predictable outcome, and finally snapped its nine-game losing streak with a 88-83 win over Toronto at the Garden. The loss marked the 11th straight in Boston for the Raptors.

Jared Sullinger continued a recent run of solid play with a monster game: 25 points, 20 rebounds. Avery Bradley, an emerging star for the Celtics, tallied 20 points. (He’s now led Boston in scoring four of the last five games.). Jeff Green scored 13 points, while Kris Humphries added 12.

DeMar DeRozan sparked Toronto with a team-best 23 points. Kyle Lowry (18 points, 12 assists) and John Salmons (13 points) also chipped in.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE CELTICS

Sully: Sullinger completely dominated the Raptors’ frontline of Amir Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas. His 22-point, 20-rebound performance marked Sullinger’s fourth straight game with at least 10 rebounds, and third double-double in four games. Seven of his rebounds were of the offensive variety. Four-and-a-half minutes into third quarter Sullinger already had 15 rebounds. He brought the crowd to a tizzy at the end of the third quarter when he received a full court pass from Gerald Wallace and drained a fadeaway jumper to put Boston up 17 seconds. The Celtics had just over two seconds remaining to convert the play

Pressey starts: With Crawford and Brooks traded, the starting point guard onus fell to Phil Pressey. The undrafted rookie handled the promotion well with 10 assists and three rebounds, although he failed to score. Most importantly Pressey did not commit any turnovers. Pressey’s best stretch came in the final minute of the first half. It began with a pick-and-roll between Sullinger and Pressey that resulted in a Sullinger floater with 58 seconds left. Then, with Boston on the fast break, Pressey nonchalantly flipped a pass behind his back to a trailing Bradley for an easy layup. On the next defensive possession, Pressey plucked a Toronto miss out of the air, and immediately turned and found Bradley streaking to the hoop. Bradley was fouled on the play and made both free throws. Crawford and Brooks’ departure bodes well for Pressey, who will likely remain to see big minutes with a recovering Rajon Rondo the only true point guard currently on the roster.

Avery’s first-half run: Nearly half way through second quarter, Boston had absolutely nothing going on offense. After a DeRozan jumper at the 7:28 mark, the Celtics were trailing by five points, in large part due to a 1-for-7 second quarter shooting effort, and an over all shooting percentage of 28.8. But on the corresponding possession, Bradley cooly splashed a 23-foot jumper. This started a Bradley scoring outburst over the final seven minutes of the half to push Boston into a 45-41 lead. Bradley scored 14 of his 16 first-half points during this stretch, knocking down a number of mid-range jump shots and finishing a couple uncontested layups.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE CELTICS

Fourth quarter flop: At the end of three quarters, not only was it looking like Boston would win, it appeared that the Celtics would be able to coast to victory.  The Celtics led by 17 points at the end of the third, but Toronto mounted a massive fourth quarter to give Boston a scare. At one point, the Raptors were down by only three points. But the Celtics came up with a couple of vital defensive stops to ice the game.

D on DeRozan: The electric shooting guard seemed to be the only Raptor prepared to play. He scored a team-high 23 points and added eight rebounds and three assists. DeRozan, Toronto’s leading scorer at 21.3 points per game, made tough shot after tough shot, all while being blanketed by Boston’s top defender, Bradley.

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If Rondo indeed returns on Friday, it's a plus for the team to have at least a speck of momentum rather than adding the pressure of having to break a losing streak to his return.

Pressey showed considerable confidence in his playmaking to great effect. He really has an instinct for ball distribution and could use a lot more repetitions among a constant cast of teammates. He was definitely an MVP in this one.

Sully was also an MVP for obvious reasons—25 points, 20 rebounds, and some clutch free throws. He didn't just get 20 rebounds, but 8 of them were of the offensive variety. Many times, he was the sole Celtic, at a height disadvantage, fighting two or three Raptors on the Celtics' offensive board, and he was really getting pounded in there. I had visions of Sully at PF and a stud like Asik at center dealing out a double dose of punishment on the boards.

And there's a third MVP in my book—Avery Bradley with 20 points despite having an ice bag on his shooting hand during much of the first half.

The unsung hero in my book was Kris Humphries, but that's no real news as he has basically retired the unsung hero trophy this season. His consistency continues to amaze me. He was 2 rebounds short of a double-double, but half of his 8 boards were offensive. (When's the last time we saw the Celtics get 19 offensive boards?) I also like the way Kris runs the floor trailing the break, and Pressey's a guy who can get him the ball as a trailer bursting down the lane.

Sully and Humphries are great examples of position rebounders, and they share a marvelous instinct for timing their 2-inch "leaps." In addition, both have very strong hands once they touch the rock.

Brad went with an 8-man rotation, with the other two available players, Faverani and Olynyk playing very few minutes.

One game does not a season make. And this is obviously a team with important unmet needs. But it was most rewarding to see the Celtics rise from the ashes of a nine-game losing streak, beat a very dangerous team, and do it an air of confidence and an outstanding work ethic. And qualifying as genuine glimmers were (1) their rebounding game (including 19 offensive and 39 defensive boards for a total of 58), (2) the fact that they assisted on 76% of their made field goals with a rookie leading the way (10 assists) abetted by (who else?) Sully with 4 and Bayless with 3, (3) their refusal to fold under a withering 4th quarter counterattack by the Raptors, (4) the Celts attacked the basket early and often, holding a 33% advantage over the Raptors in points in the paint and a 44% advantage in attempted free throws, and (5) what really won the game (and something I haven't mentioned yet) was some of their best defense of the season. They held Toronto to only 6 fast break points and 24 points in the paint. Only because Toronto hit on 46% of their 24 three-point attempts were the Raptors able to make a game out of it.

Nice win. Go Celtics! Go Rondo!

Sam

At any moment I was thinking that Rondo was going to run to the scorers table and check himself in.  

You like Sully now?  Just what until we have a legit center in there with him.

my only concern going foward other than the big hole in the middle is the lack of a scoring wing player coming off the bench.  

I maintain that trading both Crawford and Brooks has really weakened the teams offense and now I am just waiting to see the next move by DA.

Nice win by Boston.

dboss

Hi,
I wonder what Sully had for breakfast yesterday?
As for PP, he needs PT to get experience and he needs to spend summer with a shooting/self confidence coaches and we have a solid backup (IMO) for RR.

AK

Nice to get a win after that brutal, brutal west coast road trip.  Between Hell Month and this trip we have really had a tough start to a season.

We were up 18 points and almost blew it.  They were 11-24 from the line for a positively Howard-esque 46%.  If they hit even 67% that's another 5 points.  We only won by 5.  A win is a win is a win, but we're still wobbly and Toronto's not that good.  They're leading the division only because the Atlantic division truly sucks.

1.  Not a bad first pro start for Pressey, huh?  10 assists and zero turnovers in just 26 minutes.  While he hasn't been all that consistent so far this year (neither has his minutes) one of his consistencies has been his relatively few turnovers.  In 423 total minutes he only has 22 turnovers to go with 80 assists.  Obviously, he needs to do shooting drills until they are coming out of his ears.  He has good instincts though, always seeming to get the ball to his teammates when and where they can do the most good with it.  He doesn't have sticky fingers nor is he overeager and try to make overly difficult passes.  He doesn't try to thread needles.  He plays up tempo, which we gotta love.  He also played exceptional defense on Lowry last night, especially in the 2nd half.  He fought over picks, he was right up in Lowry's grill most of the time.  If you look at the boxscore you see that Lowry had 18 points and 12 assists, but if you watched the game you felt like Pressey made him work for every single one.  Just one game but hell, if you're gotta start somewhere and this was a good way for Pressey to do it.

2.  I'm not going to belabor the obvious about Sully's game.  He had a monster one.  The entire Raptor starting 5 had 30 rebounds, Sully had 20 by himself.  When he's on his game he is a force of nature.  Let's not overlook his 4 assists and zero turnovers.  He is an excellent high post passer.

3.  Another solid game by Hump.  Some great defensive rotations, he ran the floor and grabbed more traffic rebounds.  At one point, he battled 4 Raptors for an offensive rebound and came away with a foul call.

I guess there's something about Wednesdays Kris Humphries likes.





4.  They shot 50% after 1 quarter, we shot 33%.  The reason why we were only down 2 is because we lived at the line (when was the last time we could say that?).  Lowry had 5 assists, Pressey had 2.  By the half, though, they were down to 40% and we were up to 38%, Lowry had one more assist and Pressey had picked up 3 more.  At the end of 3, their fg% was down to 36% while ours was up to 41%.  Slowly but surely, we strangled them.  Lowry had 7 assists, so he was subdued that quarter by Pressey's defense.  Pressey, however, was up to 9 assists.  Our demise almost came in the 4th quarter, when we went 3-20 for the quarter and had 5 TOs.  Fortunately, Sully and Bradley were getting to the line.  Not how we want to close out a game, obviously.  Thanks to that one offensively awful quarter our fg% dropped to 35%.  Fortunately, our defense was good enough to drag theirs down to 38% too.  It got ugly in the final frame as we missed shots, their energy level and confidence went up and we discombobulated a bit.

5.  DeMar DeRozan's game reminds me a bit of George Gervin's.  He's scrawny like the Ice Man too.  Quite a bit of similarity in their defense as well.  If you remember, Gervin was a member of Stan Albeck's run-and-gun-what's-defense? San Antonio Spurs.  When DeRozan is hot he is unconscious.  You need to superglue yourself to his shooting hand.  When he's not, however, he doesn't stop shooting.  Hmm, John Starks comes to mind too.  Last night, he was on.  One shot was absolutely Kyrie Irving, spinning and twirling for a layup that made your jaw drop.  He has talent.  He's also, from what I've read, available.  Personally, I'd pass.  Aside from his defensive deficiencies and inconsistencies he has a bit of a rep for being immature.  Someday, though, he'll grow up and whomever has him then is going to be very, very happy.

6.  Another great game by Bradley.  It's almost hard to believe this is the same player who was too intimidated to practice his rookie year.

7.  Kelly and Vitor didn't play many minutes, don't have great boxscores, but I thought both of them, in their combined 9 minutes, did good jobs of defensive switching.  Kelly switched on a shot, got a piece of it but not enough to stop it from going in and intimidated another one on a switch.  Vitor had a nice defensive drop down to prevent the layup by Lowry.  No stats, but nice work.  I'm not worried about Kelly's shot, he's a shooter and he'll settle down eventually (hell, it has taken Bradley how long?) but his defense long term worries me.  Stints like this make me feel better.  Vitor is something else.  It's not his offense or even his defense that worries me (although I don't understand why Il Hombre Indestructible lets himself get bounced back so much), it's his still inability to set and hold a solid "you're going to have to come through me" pick.  Still, we got time.

8.  Not a good game by Bayless.  0-5, 3 assists and 1 TO (the TO came when he turned the corner to drive and his feet slid out from under him.  I can live with those, they're going to happen both ways, it's the brain-dead bad decision TOs that we need to avoid).  The camera showed Bayless sitting on the bench looking very somber and unengaged.  I sure hope he's not pouting because Pressey got the start and not him.  All these good feelings I have towards him could evaporate very quickly if he is.

9.  Brad Stevens said, in reference to Keith Bogans, that he didn't know when Bogans would be back.  The Celtics just brought in Chris Johnson, a 6'5" D-league guard for a workout (Hey!  How about my boy, Chris Babb?).  Bogans isn't in the doghouse, he's in the outhouse.  Not a very good career move for a marginal player who had (past tense) a reputation for being a good locker room presence.  He's lucky Danny doesn't get angry enough to really poop on his parade and assign him to Maine "to get reps".  It's amazing how some people can hit the lottery and still screw themselves up.


Well, Danny hit a partial reset button yesterday.  New chemistry being built.  The NBA trade deadline is February 20th.  I have no doubt there will be more shoes dropping between now and then.  It must be very strange to be in the Celtics locker room right now, with Danny stalking them like death.  Crawford probably thought he was home-free.



bob



.

A win is a win, regardless of how you get there. They turned in yet another respectable performance and this time were rewarded with a 14th victory.

A few thoughts...

1. Sullinger is just... Wow!

Every player ranging from pretty good to great has one of those games where anything is possible. Last night, Sully had one of those nights. In addition to an impressive double, he also sank 2 FTs to ice the game.

Going forward, it would be hard to argue against him as a building block for the years ahead. And to think, he's only in his second year.

2. Bradley has ice in his veins.

Despite an injury to his shooting hand, he still finished with 20 points and was up to his usual tricks on defense, helping create turnovers. He grabbed 5 rebounds and made 2 steals.

3. Pressey, bigger than his stature.

Phil had his first NBA start (which was surprising to me, I assumed Bayless would have been named the starter) and he surely didn't disappoint. He logged 10 assists and 3 rebounds and no turnovers. Pressey demonstrated adept passing ability and great instincts for when to attack the defense. Overall, for a guy that's been getting spotty minutes, he seemed to overachieve.

The ball movement overall was much better than it had been in previous games.

4. Defensive impact.

30-78 (38.5% FG). That was Toronto's shooting for the night. Boston's defense was very good throughout the game. Despite the comeback the Raptors made, Boston was still able to hold them in crunch time to seal the win.

Not that this had anything to do with defense (directly) but Toronto finished 12-25 FT.

5. Late Game Execution.

Typically, a lead would be blown and eventually the game itself. But last night wasn't the case. The C's grabbed timely rebounds, made timely shots, and avoided the mental errors that often come with the game being on the line.


Overall, an impressive win against a streaking team on a 12-5 game run.


KJ