It can be really tempting to make excuses for this one. The refs had a very interesting interpretation of the rules, DeMar DeRozan was out with injury, Patrick Patterson was on a minutes restrictions, they missed a fair amount of makeable shots and so on, but any game in which you build an 18 point 3rd quarter lead is a game that you should win. If you’re good enough to build that lead, you’re good enough to hold that lead. Period.
It was almost like we saw two completely different games played out there. The first 24 minutes of the game were a thing of beauty, everything you want to see from this team as they gear up for what will hopefully be another deep playoff run. The defense was great, with the Celtics high scoring attack negated by a great overall defensive effort but especially by DeMarre Carroll, Patrick Patterson and Bebe Nogueira in the frontcourt. Credit Kyle Lowry, Norman Powell and Terrence Ross for making the Celtics guards work to get separation in the first half but the defense was held together by the fact that the help was there every time the Celtics guards did get that separation. The big men did an excellent job of sniffing out the Celtics intent on every play and shutting the door on them. Some porous defense from Cory Joseph, foul trouble forcing the Raptors deep into their big man rotation and the existence of Jared Sullinger derailed the defensive effort a bit but it was a solid overall effort.
The first half offense wasn’t quite dominant – nobody would confuse it for the team’s early season onslaught – but it got the job done. With Valanciunas on the bench thanks to the refs and DeRozan out of the lineup entirely this could have turned into one of those “Kyle Lowry tries to do everything” nights but thankfully the team managed a nice balance thanks to a surprise appearance from Jared Sullinger’s offensive game and Norman Powell’s continued willingness to assert himself. After the way the last Celtics-Raptors game went the first half was everything a Raptors fan could have hoped for.
In the second half things slowly fell apart. The defensive rotations weren’t quite so crisp on the Raptors end while the Celtics gradually ramped up the defensive intensity and the Raptors non-Lowry offensive contributions dwindled. Part of the credit for this certainly goes to the Celtics, who did a great job of keeping Lowry out of the paint with perfect hedging and a solid defensive effort from Marcus Smart but the Raptors coaching staff pick up some of the blame as well with their unwillingness or inability to consistently involve anyone not named Lowry and DeRozan in the offense. Marcus Smart locking down Lowry meant that the weaker Isaiah Thomas was guarding someone else and the Raptors didn’t do enough to attack that in the second half despite having some success going at him with Powell in the first half. The Raptors have done a good job of keeping Powell heavily involved in the offense since DeRozan went down to injury but tonight they failed to take advantage of his matchup advantages.
Another tempting option for Raptors fans right now is to chalk this loss up to a superhuman effort from Isaiah Thomas, and this wouldn’t be entirely inaccurate. The man poured in 44 points including a ridiculous 19 point 4th quarter performance that equalled the Raptors total 4th quarter output. He used his change of pace and first step to get in the paint at will, feasted on the Raptors defensive miscues and seemed to come through with a basket at the exact moment the Celtics needed it to shift the momentum. If there was one stretch that completely changed the direction of the game it was the 9-0 run that Thomas went on all by himself from 6:11-4:39 of the 4th quarter, single-handedly turning an 8 point deficit into a 1 point lead. His fourth quarter performance showed Raptors fans how the other side feels, because what he did is not unlike what Lowry has done to other teams so many times over the last few seasons; it’s exhilarating when it’s your guy but you throw things at the TV when it’s the other guy. If you manage to remove emotion from the equation it was a lot of fun watching what Thomas managed to do tonight.
From the Celtics perspective they got carried to victory by another heroic performance from one of the smallest players in NBA history but from the Raptors perspective the real reason for the loss was the same thing that has plagued the Raptors all season: a lack of discipline and attention to detail on defense. Every broken play ends up in a mad scramble with players just sprinting toward wherever the ball happens to be and nobody seeming to have any idea which players are dangerous and which you’d be fairly content with them shooting. Bebe closes out too hard on Tyler Zeller, nobody picks up Isaiah Thomas on multiple broken plays, nobody gets a body on Terry Rozier which allows him to grab an offensive rebound in traffic – these are the kinds of mistakes that doom all but the supremely talented teams and while the Raptors are a very talented team they just don’t have that level of talent even when 100% healthy. They need to be better to have a chance against the elite teams in the NBA and so far this year they have consistently missed the mark, which is reflected in their record against elite competition. It wasn’t Isaiah Thomas that beat the Raptors last night, it wasn’t the refs and it wasn’t injuries; as usual the Raptors managed to beat themselves.
That $%@% I Like
Jakob Poeltl Filling In – The Raptors got lit up in his brief sting during this game but as usual he showed an ability to get his hands on the ball on the offensive glass and the mobility to help and recover. He doesn’t always time things correctly and seems to end up out of position fairly often but his defensive acumen seems very good for a rookie and if he keep showing flashes like this he should start to get more of these assignments over Pascal Siakam
Patrick Patterson Attacking the Rim – he’s always shown a willingness to do this but it’s been kind of awkward. Half the time it seemed to end up in these weird half-post ups where he’d take a contested one handed push shot with his body at some weird angle from the basket because he’s not really a post player but didn’t managed to get all the way to the rim. Tonight he was able to find seams to get right to the rim and it made him that much more dangerous. I’m really hoping that this is something that we see a lot more of from him.
Kyle Lowry vs. Isaiah Thomas – No matter which side wins it’s entertaining. I could definitely get into 4-7 of these head to head matchups come May. A series that’s decided by which one of these guys manages to hit the most ridiculous pull up and step back three pointers may be the most fun Raptors basketball has ever been.
That $#%@ I Don’t Like
Why Is Terrence Ross? – I don’t even know what to say. He just made so many unforced errors, it seemed like every time he had a decision to make he made the wrong one. This sequence sums up his game tonight: he pump fakes and gets his defender to commit to the contest but instead of taking the lane he created hepulls back; then when the defender has recovered and is set he decides to drive directly at the defender for an offensive foul. This game really showed that Ross is still not a guy you want to handle the ball for more than a couple seconds. They should really focus on getting him more catch and shoot opportunities instead of putting the ball in his hands and hoping that it happens to be one of his good days.
Grab and Squeeze – Once again the Raptors got killed on the offensive glass late in the game. You can get away with Pattrson and Bebe together if the wings commit to rebounding but unfortunately these Raptors wings never seem to commit to rebounding. They either need to find a scheme they’re comfortable with Valanciunas executing or play him in crunch time every game because Terry Rozier was outmuscling the Raptors for crunchtime rebounds while he was on the bench tonight.
Cory Joseph – What is wrong with this guy? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody go from being one of the better defensive guards in the league to not being able to guard anyone before his 26th birthday. The Celtics also had him scouted perfectly, drawing an offensive foul on that “leap back into the defender” move he does while driving and generally not falling for any of his fakes. You can usually live with that with Joseph because his defense has always been his primary contribution but that is clearly no longer the case. It’s not an effort issue because he’s still hustling out there he just gets beat by everyone for some reason. Whatever it is the Raptors need him to do better if they are to repeat last years success. Hopefully he’ll manage to lock in as the postseason draws near.
