The Celtics improbably had a chance to make things interesting for the No. 1 seed in the East on Wednesday night. Ultimately, injuries, fatigue and a bad shooting night caught up to the C's however as the Raptors pulled away in the second half for a 96-78 win.
The Celtics posted season-lows in points and 3-point shooting (3-of-22) in the defeat, against an aggressive Raptors defense that took advantage of the C's lack of depth in the backcourt. Terry Rozier tried to gut things out on a sprained ankle but had a tough shooting night (1-of-9) in his return to the court. Outside of Marcus Morris (team-high 21 points) and Greg Monroe (17 points) no one on the Celtics shot above 50 percent from the field, as the C's struggled to manufacture points all over the court on the night. DeMar DeRozan led a balanced scoring effort for the hosts with 16 points.
The win doesn't clinch the No. 1 seed for the Raptors outright, but essentially wraps up the top seed with just four games to play. One more Toronto win or Celtics loss will clinch the No. 1 spot for the Raptors, while also locking the C's into the No. 2 seed.
GAME: No. 78 of 82
WHO: Celtics (53-24) vs. Raptors (55-22)
WHEN: 8:00 p.m.
WHERE: Air Canada Centre
RADIO: 98.5 The Sports Hub
TV: ESPN, NBC Sports Boston
Celtics
PG: Kadeem Allen/Shane Larkin
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Al Horford
C: Aron Baynes
Raptors
PG: Kyle Lowry
SG: DeMar DeRozan
F: OG Anunoby
F: Serge Ibaka
C: Jonas Valancunias
First Half Notes
- This has been a rock fight from the opening tip. Both teams are coming off a back-to-back in Game No. 79 of the regular season and their legs looked like it early. A lot of missed shots on both ends.
- The Raptors specifically were overreliant on the 3-point shot and couldn't get any kind of consistency there. Valancunias had a couple nice moves down low but Lowry/DeRozan couldn't get into their usual grooves against some stellar defense by the starters.
- Terry Rozier was moving around fairly well for a guy coming off a sprained ankle. He had his usual quick cuts and a couple nice takes to the rim.
- In a battle of first quarter bricks, Greg Monroe proved to be the difference with his work on the offensive glass. He posted a team-high nine points and six rebounds in the first half, doing work down low against the Raptors bigs.
- C's led by as many as six points early, but the Raptors second unit changed the energy level in this game as the quarter progressed. Fred VanVleet was a difference maker and the Raptors upped the defensive pressure, which produced miscues.
- The C's tried to keep the minutes down for Rozier, and play heavy minutes by Tatum/Horford at the point in the second quarter but that duo had trouble initiating offense against the ball pressure of Lowry and Ibaka, which led to turnovers and tough contested shots.
- C's had nine turnovers in all during the second quarter and the Raptors scored 17 points off those miscues in transition, topping the C's total point output (13) in the second quarter.
- A lot of ugly 3-point shooting early (1-of-9) made things tough as well for the C's. Raptors doubled aggressively and left non-shooters open like Kadeem Allen and weren't punished for it.
- Another tough performance early by Marcus Morris (four turnovers), who coughed that ball up on several occasions.
- C's trimmed lead down from 14 to 10 at halftime, but they are going to have run their sets with more purpose and be better with shot selection if they want to make this a game after the break.
- This is the fourth and final meeting between the division rivals this regular season. The Celtics have a 2-1 edge in the season series, so a win in Toronto would give them the head-to-head tiebreaker for any tie in the standings. Boston trails Toronto by two games in the standings with just five games remaining, making this game a must-win if they want any chance of jumping up to the top seed in the East.
- Terry Rozier and Shane Larkin both remain questionable for Wednesday's game after missing Tuesday's loss to the Bucks. Rozier is dealing with a sprained left ankle, while Larkin is recovering from a bout with the flu. He is expected to join the team in Toronto for the contest, but it is unclear whether he'll play.
- The Raptors have lost five of their last eight games, which has trimmed a six-game deficit over the Celtics for the No. 1 seed down to two games. A big reason for the slump has been a tough stretch for parts of the second unit. Key sharpshooter C.J. Miles is shooting 28 percent from the field and 24 percent from 3-point range over the past 10 games.
- After knocking down three 3s against the Bucks on Tuesday night, Jayson Tatum set the Celtics rookie record for most 3-point field goals made during a rookie year.