The Toronto Raptors fell to 4-5 on the season after losing on Remembrance Day to the Boston Celtics 117-94. Boston Improves to 7-2 in the campaign and keep their home undefeated streak going as they now sit at 4-0 at the TD Garden. Meanwhile, Toronto falls to 2-3 on the road and ends their 3-game road trip with a respectable 2-2 record.
The Raptors started out strong in the first quarter as they got Jakob Poeltl and Scottie Barnes going early, but the Celtics always remained within striking distance and were helped by a great quarter from point guard Jrue Holiday. Boston did a great job with their drives and kick-out passes for multiple wide-open three-point shots in this quarter and they were able to win it at the end 30-26.
The second quarter started decent for Toronto until midway through the quarter when the Celtics started pulling away. The big three of Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis were active all night as they were great from the start, including this quarter. However, the Raptors did make a solid comeback late to keep the game below double digits at halftime.
In the second half, things started to get ugly. The Raptors couldn’t keep up with the Celtics early leading to the deficit being above double digits in a hurry and the Celtics started growing a big lead in this one. The Celtics big 3 was amazing once again, as the trio combined for 77 points on the night. Boston was able to find some easy dunks under the rim thanks to Jrue Holiday’s stellar playmaking tonight as he might have only ended the night with 8 points but he also added 7 assists to lead the team. Boston cruised to a 17-point lead at the end of three.
This quarter was just as bad as the third as the Celtics were able to grow a 30-point lead midway through the quarter. Malachi Flynn was solid tonight along with Thaddeus Young, Chris Boucher and Precious Achiuwa so at least there were some positives with the bench unit. The Raptors starters were not great tonight as they shot a combined 35 percent. Let me rephrase that, Jakob Poeltl and Dennis Schroder shot solid but the other three starters weren’t efficient tonight. Scottie Barnes, O.G. Anunoby and Pascal Siakam shot 28 percent from the field as O.G. Anunoby had the least amount of shots attempted out of the three with 13. A lot of volume for Toronto’s homegrown big three and they were not able to capitalize on them. A couple more shots from those three and this is a tighter game.
Next up for the Celtics is the New York Knicks at home tomorrow night it will already be their second meeting together as the New York Knicks will look to avenge their opening night loss. The Raptors also play tomorrow as they have the Washington Wizards who are struggling right now with a 2-6 record and it’s the first look both teams get to see each other’s new teams for the season.
