Rapid Reaction: Raptors 92, Celtics 89

ESPNBOSTON

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

PORTLAND, Maine -- It took Jeff Green a mere 15 seconds to remind us what he's capable of on the court.

Green, who missed the team's first four exhibition games while battling a strained left calf, made his preseason debut Wednesday and, on the game's first possession, rolled free on a pick-and-roll with Evan Turner and delivered a two-handed slam.

With maybe a touch of rust to blame, Green had more downs than ups from there. He finished with nine points, five rebounds, a steal and an assist, while also committing three turnovers over 32 minutes of action as the Celtics fell to the Toronto Raptors 92-89 on Wednesday night at the Cross Insurance Arena.

The Celtics, who trailed by as much as 12 in the game, rallied to make things interesting late and Avery Bradley hit a jumper with 8.1 seconds remaining to tie the game. Toronto responded with Lou Williams calmly knocking down a 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds to go. Jared Sullinger's attempt to tie the game at the buzzer bounced off the rim.

The rest of what you need to know from Wednesday's game:

• Nitty Gritty: Marcus Thornton got it going into the fourth quarter and scored a team-high 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while Tyler Zeller had a strong first half to help fuel a 13-point outing (he was also a team-best plus-12 on the night). Toronto got a team-high 16 points from Jordan Hamilton and 15 more from Williams.

• ET ejected: Evan Turner got tagged with a pair of technical fouls for barking at referee Eric Lewis and was ejected with 2:09 to play in the third quarter. In a whistle-heavy game, Turner didn't seem to be protesting much more than others, but he got the gate for voicing his displeasure.

• Loose balls: The Celtics shot 41 percent overall (34-of-83) and just 26.7 percent beyond the 3-point arc (8-of-30). ... After the Raptors dominated points in the paint early, Boston tightened up and narrowed the difference to 34-32 by game's end.

• What it means: The Celtics fall to 2-3 on the preseason. Boston is off to Philadelphia for the second night of a back-to-back against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center. The Celtics will spend a couple days in Brooklyn before a 44-minute test game against the Nets on Sunday at the Barclays Center.

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Better, but not good enough.

We kept falling into double-digit deficits.  Yeah, we kept clawing and grinding our way out of them, but that's no way to run an airline.  Like last year, we keep coming out ice cold from the tip-off.  A lot of our problems came in transition defense.  We didn't get back.  In one sequence in the 1st quarter, repeated numerous times over the game, they would start a fast break and then, just to rub salt into the wound, one of their trailers would beat the rest of our guys down court.  In that sequence in the 1st quarter, Jeff Green was the lone defender back on a 2-1, he did about as good a job as he could, but it was finished by a 3rd Raptor who got to the front of the rim before anybody else in green.  Our front court footspeed is an issue unless it's Zeller.

1.  Turner got ejected.  Forsberg he said something to the ref but the ejection didn't come until Turner rolled/bounced the ball towards the ref, quite slowly, and it hit his lower leg.  An over reaction by the ref.  Turner was frustrated because he wasn't getting calls on the contact from his drives all night.  The ejection, however, was a bad call.  Despite getting tossed Turner had, what is starting to look like, a typical boxscore for him.  Underwhelming in any one category but quite solid in all of them.  In 27 minutes he had 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 11 points on 5-9 and a steal.  6 assists and only 2 TOs is QUITE respectable for a point guard, much less a point forward.  His dribbling drives me crazy, I think it is way too high and just doesn't look like it's on a string, but damn if he still doesn't keep getting his shoulders past his man.  He's also playing energetic defense, despite his previous reputation for not.

2.  Jeff Green's boxscore doesn't look good, 9 points on 3-12 and only 1-5 from 3, but he was active and played with energy and I'm ok with that.  He hasn't played yet this pre-season, so we have to expect some rust to his game.  He played good defense, coming off his high energy.  Jeff Green deserves some slack here, he literally just showed up.

3.  Sully was 2-11.  He had his usual Beast Mode 10 rebounds but he couldn't throw the ball in the hoop.  He guarded Val most of the night and that is a big mismatch on height.

4.  Kelly was 2-7.  Are you getting the idea our shooting was horrendous last night?  I have to say, though, that while neither Sully nor Kelly were getting back on defense quickly enough to blunt their running game, they did very credible jobs in the half court of rotating to seal baselines and helping with traps.  Kelly talks about how he enjoys playing for his hometown of Toronto's team, but he doesn't play like he does.  I don't believe he has had a good game against them since entering the league.

5.  Last night was Tyler Zeller's coming out party.  Ironically, it came just hours after Stevens annointed Kelly as the starting center.  He was a perfect 6-6 for 13 points (1-2 ftm/fta), all on pick-and-rolls.  Remember how we got killed on PnRs last year?  Well last night Zeller was the assassin.  Turner, in particular, had fun feeding him.  4 of Turner's 6 assists were to Zeller on PnRs.  A lot has been said about the "Ohio State" connection between Sully and Turner, but it's Turner, with his ability to penetrate, and Zeller's affinity for the PnR that look like the real deal.  That's actually a good thing since, when Rondo comes back, that will allow us to move our one of our best distributors to the 2nd unit permanently and let him feed two players that need to be fed to be productive, Zeller and Thornton.  Zeller also had 3 blocks last night.  If he can show that wasn't just a fluke Stevens might have to rethink who his starting center is.

6.  Thornton played good defense.  Again.  Just goes to show, you can't go by previous reputations.  New systems, new coaching philosophies and styles, new opportunities to prove oneself and confound the critics.  He had 3 steals last night and stayed in front of his man.  On offense, he was hardly heard from and then, boom, out of nowhere he has 17 points.  My eyes rolled, like so many others, when I heard he was coming to the Celtics.  $8M contract, no defense, blah, blah, blah.  Microwave Marcus is far, far exceeding my expectations so far.

7.  The other Marcus looks good on defense but is up-and-down on offense.  3 steals last night says he's active on defense.  He has a nose for the ball when it's not on a string.  He usually stays in front of his man.  6 rebounds, 2 offensive show he's not afraid to stick his nose in.  As a point guard, though, he's not quite ready.  Dribbles high, makes some rather poor decisions (6 TOs last night including a few really bad ones).  Still, this is only his, what, 5th NBA game?  Gotta give it to the kid, he definitely DOES NOT have that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look about him.  Remember Kelly last year?  That's not Marcus Smart.  He'll be fine by February.

8.  Pressey reverted to form and was 0-6.

9.  Bradley had a nice, not great, game.  Good defense, 13 points on 6-11.  He made a pull up 3ptr.  That is new, this year.

10.  Kyle Lowry schooled Marcus Smart in the 9 short minutes he played.  Lesson to be learned young'un.  STFU and just ball.  If you don't think that opposing players don't hear about what you say, then you have a lot to learn.  It also says something about how competitive we are when Lowry only plays 9 minutes and we lose.  

11.  We had 19 TOs with Jeff Green and Smart accounting for 9 of them.  Jeff Green's rusty and Smart hasn't shown himself to be that reckless on a regular basis.  Nevertheless, they cost us last night, in a game that doesn't count.

12.  Lou Williams hit the game winner, cool as a cucumber, after being 3-10 up to that point but it was the need for repeated long runs just to tie it up that sank us.  They started out shooting over 50%, with a lot of running, and then our non-stop defense chewed them down to 43% by game end.

13.  We were 8-30 from 3.  That is a ton of 3pt fgas and a truly awful fg%.

Stevens' defense is predicated upon denying their offense the middle, channeling them instead towards the sidelines.  Last night we did a pretty good job of that and, when they were along the baseline, the trap came quickly.  Our defense is far ahead of our offense, not only in energy but in application of strategy.  I'm ok with that.  Stevens said that the team needs to develop "Defensive DNA" and that's what we're getting.

We just gotta hit our shots.  Preferably, early and often.  We also aren't running as much.  83fgas last night.  That is just not enough.  It actually amazes, and a little impresses me, that we lost on a buzzerbeater despite having only 83fgas, shooting 41% and having 19 TOs.  Like I said, our defense is more reliable and consistent than our offense.



bob



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we still need a closer on this team it seems. someone who WANTS the ball in his hands at the end of the game.

of course it helps IF that same guy can finsh also.

Microwave Thornton looks like a guy, but he needs to be ON that night. I did notice that Stevens put him back in for the last shot attempt, but he couldn't get open for the pass.

Turner looks like a guy who WANTS the ball also, he can make things happen with his drives or shooting, but we'll need to see how that plays out in real games.

No one else on this roster seems to be THAT guy, to me at least.

so we started this off-season needing a center and a go-to scorer, IMO.

Kelly and Zeller look like they may be able to hold down the center spot against MOST teams.

do we have that go-to guy who WANTS the ball at the end of the game with the game on the line? (and one that WE want the ball in his hands as well). This is still an open question to me.

kdp59 wrote:we still need a closer on this team it seems. someone who WANTS the ball in his hands at the end of the game.

of course it helps IF that same guy can finsh also.

Microwave Thornton looks like a guy, but he needs to be ON that night. I did notice that Stevens put him back in for the last shot attempt, but he couldn't get open for the pass.

Turner looks like a guy who WANTS the ball also, he can make things ahppen with his drives or shooting, but we'll need to see how that plays out in real games.

No one else on this roster seems to be THAT guy, to me at least.

so we started this off-season needing a center and a go-to scorer, IMO.

Kelly and Zeller look like  they may be able to hold down the cetner spot against MOST teams.

do we have that go-to guy who WANTS the ball at the end of the game with the game on the line? (and one that WE want the ball in his hands as well). This is still an open question to me.

kdp,

I thought Bradley showed something when he hit that shot, while being well defended, with 8 seconds left.  That was a big shot, but he's going to have to a few more of them before I start calling him "Big Shot Brad".

I think we're in better shape this year than last.  I agree with you that Thornton and Turner seem to be "gimme the ball" types.  Rondo wants the ball too, of course, but is he a finisher or just a facilitator of a finisher?  That could describe Turner too, except that Turner can hit free throws (he's a career 77% free throw shooter) if he penetrates and they foul him.  Who were our "go to" guys last year?  Bayless?  Nice, but hardly awesome but who else?  We really didn't have anybody, did we?  According to you (and I agree with you) we now have Thornton (and Microwave Marcus does have the potential to be awesome at that) at the minimum and maybe Turner too.  Maybe, just maybe, once the rust comes off of Jeff Green he could be too (hope springs eternal).  I wouldn't want to count on Green to be our primary go-to guy all game, but for one or two key possessions?  When he's on he is really on and, as we saw with the first possession of the game last night, between Turner's penetration and Green's athleticism that could be a nice finishing pair.  It's not always one player.  Remember Stockton and Malone?  Nobody could stop their pick-and-roll and many players and coaches worked hard for many years trying.

I want to see marginal increases, at least, at every position this year.  Every player, from top to bottom, has to show some improvement.  If we get that then we'll see a bunch of competitive games this year and the general prediction of 32-34 wins this season becomes quite achievable.



bob


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Still pre-season, still playing lineup roulette.  The loss didn't mean much or bother me.

Saw some positives. Smart and Turner looking like we hoped they would, Zeller looking much better.

Now my Orioles getting swept, that bothered me.  Who are these Royals anyway?

Hi,
I don't know what happened in the 3rd quarter - watched only the 1st half - but I'm not sure I like ET as a de facto PG. He becomes, in many cases, predictable. His 2 main weapons of penetrate to the hoop and penetrate to dish out are easy to negate by plugging all paths. OTOH, his passing to a sliding big showed a lot of potential - Zeller and KO looked really good in those plays.

AK

Bob, I would agree that Bradley, maybe could develope that "give me the damn ball" mentality. His shot has definately become more consistant in the past year. I am just still skiddish on him as "that guy".

Green......I am not sure he'll EVER want to be the guy to win or lose a game. but you are right about when he's on he IS on. but we can say the same about Rondo also.


The contending teams almost alwasy ahve that guy who commands the ball at the end of the game and doesn't shy away from it. I just don't see that guy on this team yet I am afraid. But it IS only year two of the rebuild.

kdp59 wrote:Bob, I would agree that Bradley, maybe could develope that "give me the damn ball" mentality. His shot has definately become more consistant in the past year. I am just still skiddish on him as "that guy".

Green......I am not sure he'll EVER want to be the guy to win or lose a game. but you are right about when he's on he IS on. but we can say the same about Rondo also.


The contending teams almost alwasy ahve that guy who commands the ball at the end of the game and doesn't shy away from it. I just don't see that guy on this team yet I am afraid. But it IS only year two of the rebuild.

kdp,


Yep, all dead on.  

1.  Every contender has that "you can't stop me" player.
2.  This is only the beginning of Year 2 of the rebuild.  Actually, when you get down to it, it's not even that since the season hasn't started yet.


Optimally, though, you want more than one guy like that.  Spurs have Parker, Ginobili and Duncan.  That's what makes them so tough.  They move the ball well, they force the defense into tough situations and they have several players they can give the ball to in that mismatch that can kill you.  I'd be tickled pink if Brad can get the Celtics to move like that (they're showing glimpses of it, but it has to burn in more over more months.  The Spurs have been doing it since the Earth cooled) and for our assassins to be Turner (ball-handler Parker), Thornton (sharpshooter Ginobili) and Sully (low threat Duncan) and Green (slasher Leonard).



bob



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NYCelt wrote:Still pre-season, still playing lineup roulette.  The loss didn't mean much or bother me.

Saw some positives.  Smart and Turner looking like we hoped they would, Zeller looking much better.

Now my Orioles getting swept, that bothered me.  Who are these Royals anyway?

My Marcus and I were messaging about the final minutes......when we pulled within 2 and got the ball back we both said preseason........go for the three and the win.( Bradley takes a 2 to tie it)

Then after Toronto went up 3 and there were 6 tenths to go, I said KO with the last shot.......he said Bradley. (KO took the ball out of bounds and Sully shot it)

Other than that we coached a pretty good game.


beat

Well, this game featured a preseason first.  I believe it's the initial opening tip won by Kelly Olynyk.  So we've got that going for us.

Right off the bat, the Celtics displayed one of the downsides of playing Sully and Kelly together.  The Green was constantly tardy in getting back on defense, and they were burned again and again by Toronto fast breaks.  That tandem just isn't capable of fighting for offensive rebounds and instantly steaming down the floor before a decent fast breaking team like the Raptors, who had 8 fast break points in the first quarter alone.  That doesn't mean they shouldn't play together; but, when they do, there will be a lot of pressure on their three teammates to pick up the slack.  Last night, the duo scored only 2 points (by Kelly) in the first quarter, exacerbating the gap that can be caused by not retreating quickly in defensive transition.

Tyler Zeller played only 3 minutes of the first quarter but immediately showed signs of his true capabilities by combining with Evan Turner for two nifty pick-and-rolls.  He also got back on defense, blocked a shot, and was a major reason why the Celts trailed by only 4 after the first period. 

The second quarter was largely the Tyler Zeller show, and it was a darned good thing, because no one else was consistently going to the hoop; it was jump shot clanker after 3-point clanker..  But Tyler was 3 for three plus a freebie for 7 points, and he made 2 more good blocks.  (Is there such a thing a a bad block?)

I thought the twosome of Zeller and Olynyk showed to good advantage, as each had 3 rebounds in the quarter.

Early in the quarter, the Raptors once again killed the Celtic with their transition game.  And they were extending their defense to thwart the Celts' perimeter game.

But the combination of Zeller, Turner, Smart, Green and Olynyk in particular looked pretty strong.  They moved the ball well.  By halftime, Turner had 5 assists, and 7 other Celtics had assisted on one basket each. 

And, lo and behold, the Celts had crept into a tie by halftime.  And defense had been the major ingredient of their second comeback of the night.  Zeller had two more blocks, and Turner had two steals.

A sidebar on Thornton.  His play is a blueprint for sixth man duties:

• He generally gets hot in a hurry after he enters a game.

• When he gets hot, he stays hot.

• He can create his own shot or catch and shoot very successfully.  And he's not just a black hole out there.  If tightly covered, rather than forcing a shot, he'll pass the ball.

• His defense is much better than advertised.  He gives 100% effort on the defensive end, and his specialty is stealing the ball and creating a breakaway for himself.  He's not a classic defender, in that he's ordinary straight up against an opponent.  But he plays the passing lanes very well, and that's whee he does a lot of his defensive damage.  Cousy had a similar defensive profile, although Cousy could take more risks because he had Russ backing him up.

• When he's hot, Marcus keep shooting, and the reliable tipoff as to when his short term contribution should end is when he tries one too many heat checks from behind the arc.  An astute coach takes him out at that juncture, having gotten the very most out of Marcus without accompany downsides.

• Marcus is the kind of player you insert for 4-6 minutes and then get him the heck out of there.  And I believe you can do that several times a game.  He is not the kind of player whom you start and play an entire quarter.  The start of a game is often a feeling out period, and Marcus wants none of that tentative stuff.  He's at his best when he can come in on a white horse and have tacit permission to conduct a one person assault on the enemy.

And, until further notice, my backcourt down the stretch is Turner ("1) and Thornton ("2").

For the half, Jeff Green had obviously made it a point to be active.  He showed a little rust, particularly in his timing.  But he led the Celtics in both shots and misses, while having scored 9 points.

Somehow, Turner and Zeller seem to have the kind of symbiotic relationship that I've noted between Kelly and Pressey.  I like seeing those duos on the floor together.

The flow of the third quarter was almost a duplicate of the second.  The Celts fell behind by taking jumpers almost exclusively against the Raptors' extended defense.  Finally, Smart and Turner began driving.  Marcus hit two freebies, and Evan penetrated for a layup.  The Toronto defense sagged a little, and Turner hit a three.

But the flurry was only temporary.  Toward the end of the quarter, Turner got tossed, and the Celts went back to shooting jumper after jumper.  Turner came in and hit a three.  But the Celtics had only 3 assists in the quarter  Neither the ball nor the players were moving.  And they trailed by 10 at the end of the period.

The fourth quarter was Thornton time.  He made his third steal and hit a little jumper. (He's automatic from the lane.)  Then he hit a three.  Zeller drained a half hook on a nice pass by Pressed (who had 3 assists in the quarter).  Thornton made a 5-POINT PLAY with a three on which he was fouled plus a technical freebie.  That one play catapulted the Celtics back into contention (and isn't that the epitome of what a sixth man should do?).  Then Thornton went to the hoop; and suddenly the score was tied again.

Unfortunately, the Raptors went on a run, including a lot of threes, and the Celts were down 7.  Around this time< I noticed that Smart has one unfortunate Avery Bradley trait.  He pushes the ball well but negates any advantage by pulling up when he reaches the perimeter.  Ya gotta take advantage when they're back on their heels, Marcus.

But, as soon as I made that observation, Marcus got fouled shooting a three and hit all three free throws.  Sully and Kelly both hit, bringing the Green within 2 with 35 seconds left.  Seemed to me that Avery wanted the ball in a clutch situation, and he cleanly hit a contested mid-range jumper to tie the game.  Then Williams hit a three with 0.6 seconds left, and Sully missed a prayer as time expired.

So they lost, 92-89 in as roller coaster a game as one could imagine.  It should be noted that DeRozan was held out; and it seemed that (even without him) the Raptors were prepared for any incursion the Celtics might make.

But this game certainly had its glimmers.  And the brightest of those were Zeller and Thornton, who (not coincidentally) shared my game ball.  Not because they both scored well.  But because they both played their respective roles to near perfection.

Go Celtics!

Sam

anyone else thinking that Stevens saying Starting Center is Kelly's to lose, might have lite a fire in Zeller?

competition is never a bad thing!

I think Thornton is playing defense now to show off for his next team, you know once Ainge trades him.

kdp59 wrote:anyone else thinking that Stevens saying Starting Center is Kelly's to lose, might have lite a fire in Zeller?

competition is never a bad thing!

I think Thornton is playing defense now to show off for his next team, you know once Ainge trades him.

kdp,

Whatever works.


bob


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