Unlike the last time the Toronto Raptors played the Boston Celtics — when the Celtics ran away with it early on the back of a 40-ball from Jayson Tatum — the Raptors’ 106-120 loss to the Celtics on Thursday night was there for the taking.
With 5:12 remaining in the game — after brilliant performances from Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam had willed the Raptors to within 7 points after being down by more than ten for most of the night — Aron Baynes and Norman Powell saw each of their layups get blocked on back-to-back possessions. Instead of going up strong and being aware of their surroundings, both Baynes and Powell acted nonchalantly as they took the ball to the hoop, letting 4 potential points slip off the board. After Jaylen Brown blocked Powell’s bunny, Kemba Walker hit a 3-point shot to put the Celtics up ten. The Celtics would go on to score 11 straight points before Nick Nurse pulled his starters and conceded the game.
If the last game between these two teams was an example of one team being in a tier above the other, this one was won, and lost, around the margins.
At no point did the Raptors look overmatched. Lowry was in peak form, scoring 24 points on just 15 field goal attempts, and his counterpart Pascal Siakam bounced back from his previous poor showings against the Celtics to score 23 points on just 14 field goal attempts. Meanwhile, Tatum, Brown, and Kemba Walker were held to 17, 12, and 21 points, respectively.
Instead of the Celtics’ stars having their way against the Raptors, who were missing their best one-on-one defender in OG Anunoby, the Raptors forced the ball out of the stars’ hands and made the Celtics’ role players make shots. Unfortunately for the Raptors, that is exactly what they did, with Semi Ojeleye and Payton Pritchard combining for 44 points, mostly from beyond the arc. But while the Celtics outscored the Raptors 60-27 from the three-point line, that was not the only reason for the loss.
In fact, the loss was an indictment on the Raptors’ fundamentally flawed roster — one that employs only one traditional center in Baynes, who has been overmatched as of late and played 21 minutes only because Chris Boucher was in foul trouble. All season, teams have been targeting Baynes in the pick-and-roll when he is in the game, and he isn’t smart enough positionally to stay in front of ball-handlers nor does he have the speed or size to contest shots:
What's Baynes supposed to do here? pic.twitter.com/DgWvYByDpN
— Raptors Republic (@raptorsrepublic) February 12, 2021
Because Baynes has been so poor, the Raptors are asking Boucher, a 6-foot-9, 200 pound big man in his third year in the NBA, to play starter minutes, trying to survive playing small regardless of the matchup.
Boucher was good, doing everything he could to battle with Celtics’ big men Daniel Theis and Tristan Thompson in the post and doing a great job defending the pick-and-roll. But he isn’t a traditional center and would be much better matching up against backup centers and playing some minutes at the four. The problem with playing Boucher at center so much, especially without Anunoby in the lineup, is that the Raptors are susceptible to getting out-rebounded and out-muscled when playing that way. In this one, the Celtics’ outrebounded the Raptors 49-32, including 14-3 on the offensive boards. That was a big difference-maker.
To make up for their lack of size on the boards, the Raptors forced the Celtics into turning the ball over 19 times, which their small-ball lineups have done all season, often leading to fast break points. Only most of them were not live-ball turnovers and the Raptors scored only scored 5 points on the fast break all night, completely erasing one of the key tenets of their offence.
Defensively, the Raptors continue to foul in unnecessary moments and to commit too many guys to the ball because they do not trust their backline help, leading to open shots. The Celtics shot 28 free-throws compared to just 19 for the Raptors.
When looking at the game as a whole, it was clear that the Raptors lost around the margins. A couple less blown layups here, a few more defensive rebounds there, and some fast-break points could have seen the Raptors turn this one around. But win or lose tight games like this one around the margins, the roster problems remain. The Raptors either need a serviceable starting center or they need to figure out how to play small without giving up a boatload of offensive rebounds. Until then, their margin for error will remain too small to be a real contender.
