There’s no substitute for a torrential downpour from 3-point land. The Raptors were on the wrong end of it to begin their preseason game in Boston — watching Payton Pritchard & Jordan Walsh cash triple after triple — which saw them down by huge margins, and worse: to a Celtics team that didn’t play any of their regular starters.
The game was marred by inconsistent, complacent performances. Scottie Barnes didn’t seem particularly interested in running the offense, and while Gradey Dick was very interested in filling his role offensively (and he did), he was a disaster on the other end. Boy howdy, tonight’s game in Toronto went differently.
Barnes & Dick, as if possessed by the God of Shooting (or perhaps they leafed through Nick Nurse’s shooting book for pointers :P) rained hellfire on the Celtics. Not like, a hot shooting quarter either, this was beyond that. Last year I watched Deuce McBride shoot 6/6 from downtown in a first quarter vs. the Raptors and thought to myself: well I won’t see that happen again for a long time. While I didn’t see it exactly, watching Dick go 6/6 on jump shots (3/3 from downtown) for 15 first quarter points on a fairly tough shot diet; combined with Barnes pouring in 4/6 from downtown in the exact same span of time. Well, that seemed pretty unique.
It was also extremely enjoyable for a Simpsons fan like myself, because Dick’s soundbite of choice after a bucket is the immortal Mr. Monty Burns hissing: “eeeexcccellent.“
Dick, sprinting off of screens to wiggle into space for his looks, Barnes punishing Jayson Tatum going under at the point of attack – the both of them fulfilling their roles completely and setting the tone to put the Raptors up by more than 20 in the opening frame. The script had successfully flipped from last game. It’s all preseason basketball, isn’t it?
“I believe Gradey is much more offensively than just a spot up shooter.” Rajakovic said. “So everything that’s coming out of cuts and drives and slip outs – that needs to develop, and pick n’ roll is going to come along as well.”
Although, it’s like Robert Frost said: Nothing gold can stay. Dick & Barnes eventually missed some jumpers, and the Celtics — who are known for their 3-point prowess far more than these Raptors — eventually started to bridge that gap. It’s all preseason basketball… isn’t it?
The Raptors ball pressure defense was better, too. It was full of gambles, and they overextended themselves often, but the Celtics are the defending champs and they’re better than most teams at creating those overextensions and exploiting them. Still, a Raptors team that wasn’t remotely healthy, and was overly reliant on Barnes & Dick — who combined for 40 points in the first half, 19 for Dick, 21 for Barnes — and a little bit of a savvy cutting Ochai Agbaji; finding yourself down just a point at half to a Celtics team that was actually playing Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Al Horford etc. – well, that’s not bad.
If you were to believe in the preseason being at all predictive — maybe not for teamwide success, but for player performance — than Dick’s performance is something to hang onto. Using the sideline as a second defender to stonewall White, poking the ball loose, going all the way to the cup and finishing with a jelly that almost touched the rafters before lightly kissing the glass and falling in. Making an impromptu bucket cut off of Poeltl in the middle of a packed halfcourt defense and soaring through the air to catch a lob and finish. Inspired stuff, truly.
By the time Barnes & Dick exited the game in the third quarter they had taken the halftime deficit and built it up to a 10-point lead. Dick providing more of the scoring, and Barnes providing more of the overall play as a he stuffed the stat sheet as full as a Thanksgiving turkey – how could I resist this joke?
Jonathan Mogbo — who played terrific 1-on-1 defense on Tatum before he made a tough jumper to end the first half — got another chance at stepping out on a star – and picked Brown clean. Nearly 3 possessions in a row, Brown tried Mogbo, and had two turnovers and one missed jumper. While Mogbo’s offensive game hasn’t translated kindly to wing-style play, his ability to step out on perimeter players has been pretty encouraging so far tin this preseason.
The two star boys, Dick & Barnes, teamed up for a backdoor cut that bumped Dick up to 27 points and secured a double-double for Barnes (21-8-10 at the time) as soon as they got the ball to start the fourth quarter. Later, Dick would try to hit a running hook in the lane that didn’t drop in, but wow, that’s fun stuff.
All the while, Poeltl was almost note-perfect as the calming presence in the middle. Stuffing up the lane, providing juice on the glass, cleaning up around the rim after misses, just high quality big-manning. The savvy cutting and filling Agbaji was providing earlier? It stuck around. This Raptors team needs a wing defender, and if that same player can go north of 15 points without demanding many shots or actions? Well, that’s just about perfect, and that’s what Agbaji provided in this one.
“For Ochai, shooting is not a priority for me. For me, the priority is what he’s doing defensively, and he impacted the game defensively tonight.” Rajakovic said.
Before the Raptors emptied their bench they had a really wonderful stretch of play. They ran a BLOB ‘get’ action between Dick & Poeltl that saw the defense collapse, Dick made the swing pass, they located Barnes for a post-up that he scored on. The Celtics came down court and Davion Mitchell — who was pretty damn good in this one with three made triples, ten assists, and 31 minutes of terrific defense — well, Mitchell kept Pritchard under lock & key. Stymying every single attempt to penetrate the paint, and eventually forcing up a missed shot. An outlet pass found Barnes, who carried up court and hit a triple. That sequence stretched the lead from five to ten points – a buffer for the Raptors bench to use as the game clock worked its way toward a finish.
“He’s (Mitchell) very capable at disrupting offense with his physicality and picking up full court, and he’s doing that in a good way.” Rajakovic said.
The Celtics found the free throw line repeatedly — Bruno Fernando fouled out in just 14 minutes of basketball — and crawled their way back into it. With 50 seconds left, Jordan Walsh slithered to the bucket to tie things up. With 30 seconds left, all hell broke loose on the court with the ball spilling out of DJ Carton’s hands and into a dogpile, where Jamison Battle retrieved it and threw it away from the pile as if it were a hail mary. The ball fell at Carton’s feet, and only the gigantic Neemias Queta stood between he and the rim. Carton measured his David against Queta’s Goliath, and rimmed out his poster attempt before Queta send him crashing to the floor for, and the free throw line. Carton cashed in both.
Only 4 seconds later, JD Davison hit a step back heave to take the lead, and the air out of the building. 14 seconds after that (!) Carton went back to the line for a pair after a blocking foul on Davison – he cashed both. The game was nuts.
The final play saw Walsh turn the corner with Mogbo hot in pursuit and Carlson rotating to the rim – he didn’t stand a chance. The ball got swatted, the ball and the win fell to the Raptors.
I guess some things last.
Have a blessed day.
