With their bumpy 2-3 West Coast road trip now thankfully in the rear view mirror, the Celtics (13-11 overall, 6-3 home) returned to TD Garden tonight in search of a win and nothing more. They found it as their supporting cast was amazing while their top stars nearly both reached double-digit assist totals (which is rare to say the least) in a 120-106 victory over the Raptors (12-14 overall, 6-9 away). Forward Semi Ojeleye was a surprise inclusion in the starting lineup and he came through with a career-high (24 points, 6 rebounds). Along with rookie guard Payton Pritchard (20 points, 5 rebounds), they were both 6-of-8 on 3-pointers to become the first teammates in franchise history to each hit six-plus 3s in the same contest. Point guard Kemba Walker (21 points, 5 rebounds) also recovered-for one game at least-from a rough trip as Boston improved to 2-0 vs. Toronto this season.
Like a comet in the sky, don't expect to ever see Semi, Pritchard and Kemba all score 20+ points in the same contest unless it's a preseason game. It helped that shooting guard Jaylen Brown (12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals) made up for an awful shooting night (3-of-14 from the field) with a career-high 10 assists. Swingman Jayson Tatum (17 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds, 2 steals) also passed as well as we've ever seen from him, including seven dimes in the first half alone. This was just the type of win that the C's desperately needed and make no mistake, they cruised as they led by as much as 19 points while the Raptors never led in the entire 48 minutes which is incredible when you think about it.
Center Daniel Theis blocked four shots and fellow big man Tristan Thompson grabbed 11 rebounds off the bench in only 19 minutes of work. Toronto found out this morning that they would have their entire home slate this season in Tampa Bay and they have been playing much better lately after a miserable start to 2020-21. Point guard Kyle Lowry (team-high 24 points, 6 assists) and power forward Pascal Siakam (23 points) were the only guys that really showed up for the Raptors. Shooting guard Nolan Powell added 15 points and power forward Chris Boucher (12 points, 6 rebounds, 5 blocks) made his case for starting since he was very effective in 25 minutes off the bench.
Boston kept its foot on the gas for almost the entire game as they outscored Toronto in every quarter but the third and they went over 30 points in the first, second and fourth. They were up 34-29 after one which morphed into 66-56 at halftime. The Raptors showed a flicker of life in the third (24-22) but it hardly mattered as the C's closed hard in the fourth (32-26) which allowed head coach Brad Stevens to empty his bench in garbage time (can you say Tacko Time?) with Jeff Teague being the only guy out of 14 players for the Celtics who didn't see the floor at all.
As you would expect with Ojeleye and Payton's shooting nights, the Celts hit 11 more 3-pointers (20-9) than the Raptors and made seven more free throws (22-15). Boston pulled down 17 more rebounds (49-32) including 11 more offensive boards (14-3) along with scoring 17 more second chance points (17-0) and seven more fast break points (12-5) than Toronto. The fun of this beating will be quickly forgotten if the C's don't take care of business tomorrow night (8, NBC Sports Boston) against the awful Pistons (6-19) who are tied with the Timberwolves for the worst record in the league. The Celtics know not to take them lightly though as they've already met twice this season and lost one of those meetings in Detroit. Boston has a ton of games in the next few weeks but especially with this stretch, they need to take advantage of the weaker teams on their schedule. The Pistons are 3-7 in their last 10 games and 1-11 on the road so I have a feeling, a blowout could be on the menu for Friday night at the empty Garden.
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