Quick Reaction: Raptors 123, Celtics 126

Solid first half, not forcing any shots and letting the game come to him. Unbelievable reverse layup on a fast break feed from RJ to start his second half. Huge and one late in the game to give the Raptors a one-point lead with just a bit over two minutes to go.

His first shot of the game was a beautiful transition pull-up three, where he dribbled up the court and made the play all by himself. A nice block on a driving Jayson Tatum to start the second half. He was still taking good open shots in the second half but he couldn’t get anything to fall so honestly you can’t get too mad at his poor shooting performance. Agbaji gave the Raptors a two-point lead off of a timely corner three late in overtime.

A tough moving screen call that took away Gradey Dick’s first field goal of the game in the second quarter. Much more involved in the second quarter and after that he never looked back, making the most of his touches. Got the second half going with a tip-in off a miss. A very tough turnover at the end of the fourth quarter but he was put in a difficult spot so it’s not all on Jakob for the Raptors’ disastrous final play of regulation. He was able to set a new career high of 32 points in overtime off of a tip-in and was lights out post-second quarter.

Barrett got started tonight with a beautiful behind-the-back to lose his defender and score an easy layup. Spectacular block on a Payton Pritchard corner three attempt. Unreal behind the back dish to Poeltl early in the third quarter which he was able to convert. Playmaking has been stellar this season and tonight was another showcase of how good he’s gotten as a passer. Unfortunately though after a great game from the charity stripe last night, he got back to his usual struggles tonight. He also had an inefficient night from the field for the second game in a row but congratulations to RJ on his first career triple-double.

Rough start as he threw an unforced turnover on a Raptor fast break and missed a shot at the rim. Beautiful alley-oop to RJ Barrett on a fast break and a great bounce pass feed to a cutting RJ on the baseline which showcased some chemistry building between the two Raptors as well, as Gradey’s playmaking ability. He was able to get on the board after a nice give-and-go play with Jakob that got him to the free-throw line. His first field goal came right at the start of the fourth quarter off a Jamal Shead lob. His shot came to life when the Raptors needed him the most in the fourth quarter as he only had two points up until the fourth quarter. I’m giving him a better grade from last night due to clutch play and good playmaking in this contest.

First Raptor off the bench. He was having an ok game and unfortunately twisted his ankle on a defensive rebound midway through the second quarter. It was great to see him back out on the court in the second half. He got going off a lob that was fed courtesy of RJ and that was all for Bruno.

Good first shift as he was able to help out in many different areas, but most notably on the defensive end. Tough layup on big man Luke Kornett where he got hacked but wasn’t given a foul shot to go with the bucket. Does a great job of leading the Raptors when RJ or Davion Mitchell aren’t on the court.

Beautiful putback dunk in the first quarter. Great baseline drive on Kornett led to a tough and one. The speed that Boucher showed in that play was surprising. Another unbelievable “alley-oop” we’ll call it after an air-balled three-point attempt by Gradey Dick, but it was just a bit too late as Boucher’s dunk couldn’t beat the buzzer. A very pedestrian first half but the Boucher energy started hitting in the fourth quarter when he started winning Toronto second-chance opportunities and making timely three-pointers.

After a great start to the season shooting great from the free throw line he has been on a downward trend and tonight was the same after going 1/2. He’s another player where you could feel their energy right away like Boucher and Shead but tonight that was missing again.

A nice unselfish play midway through the fourth quarter where he got the defender to jump on a pump fake and dished to a wide-open Chris Boucher for a corner three. He also made his only shot of the night but that was pretty much it for the rookie tonight.

Looks like Darko learned from last night as he didn’t have any four bench + one starter units out there at all tonight, as well as no point forward RJ tonight. He also drew up a nice play that I haven’t seen before, where RJ brought up the ball, had Davion Mitchell at the free throw line and Jakob Poeltl on the corner. Davion set RJ an on-ball pick which gave Mitchell an open look. He was then able to drive and find a cutting Poeltl who was scaling with Mitchell. The result was a push shot two for Poeltl.