Three adjustments to watch for in Game 2 of Celtics-Raptors

The Celtics and Raptors are back at it with an early start (5:30 p.m. ET) on Tuesday night in what will be a pivotal Game 2. After getting dominated by Boston over the last two matchups, you can bet Nick Nurse and his coaching staff will be trying to mix things up in this contest to get themselves back on track against Boston. A look at what to watch for and counters that Brad Stevens may have ready.  

1. Defensive matchups adjustments: The Raptors stay aligned to their regular-season matchups against the Celtics in Game 1, putting the smaller Kyle Lowry on Jayson Tatum which left Fred VanVleet on Kemba Walker duty and a much bigger OG Anunoby forced to deal with a point guard in Marcus Smart. Given the Celtics’ success at creating openings at the initial point of attack in Game 1, an adjustment might be on the docket here with Lowry heading back to defensive duty on one of Boston’s dual point guards. Walker was the best player on the floor for the Celtics in Game 1 with the separation he got on screens and that might tempt Nick Nurse to throw Lowry into that assignment. That would lead the Raps to assign Anunoby on Tatum and move VanVleet over to an easier matchup in Smart. If Nurse really wants to get crazy, he could try hiding Marc Gasol on Smart to take him out of the pick-and-roll coverage with Walker as well but Brad Stevens would happily get Gasol running ragged in pick-and-rolls involving Smart with that type of extreme adjustment. The guess here is that the Raps make some minor tweaks out of the gate but it might simply come down to an enhanced sense of urgency and execution if you listen to the Raptors head coach.

“There’s things that we didn’t do very well for whatever reason,” Nurse said Monday. “But we just didn’t bring it. We didn’t bring it, man. We weren’t running hard. We weren’t running hard. It was like we were playing uphill both directions. Right? We weren’t running hard back, we weren’t running hard forward. We weren’t cutting hard.

“You know, is it not working because we’re not doing it well enough or hard enough or with enough pace, speed, connectivity, trust, communication, anticipation, toughness? Or do you need to completely junk it and get out to another coverage? There’s kind of lots going on there. And I think to answer your question, there’s some of both.”

2.  Personnel switches: Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka were big parts of the Toronto’s top-2 defense during the regular season. However, Gasol has not looked good in any of the matchups against the Celtics this season. He’s struggled from the 3-point line in Orlando, he’s easily the slowest guy on the floor against Boston’s entire roster with Enes Kanter not seeing minutes and he’s not good enough at posting up anymore to bully Daniel Theis or Robert Williams. He will probably get one more chance at center for extended minutes but I wouldn’t blame Nurse one bit if he pulls Gasol early or gets him out of the starting five entirely.

Ibaka has been the better perimeter threat in recent weeks and a better rebounder and that’s exactly what the Raptors are going to need in this series as Boston has the edge on the glass at every position in the frontcourt. The other alternative for Nurse here (although he won’t start with this group) is to go super small with his lineups for larger chunks of the game. Toronto’s offense becomes far tougher to guard with Siakam playing center and three guards roaming around the perimeter in Lowry/VanVleet/Norm Powell. This does make the Raptors a lot more vulnerable in the defensive interior but if Gasol/Ibaka are getting burned in the pick-and-roll anyway it might be a worthy trade off for the Raptors. Going to this switch if the Raptors fall down 2-0 in the series seems like a lock but Nurse might be better off being proactive before it’s too late for his team to recover. The Celtics have to be ready for the small ball lineup and it’s going to put Brad Wanamaker front and center as a third guard to match up against Powell and maximize floor spacing against the Raptors smaller units if he plays over Theis in those lineups.

3. Bench contributors: Rob Williams has earned himself more extended run after a terrific Game 1 and Brad Wanamaker remains locked in as the primary guard reserve (team-high 28 minutes off the bench). After that? Things get more interesting for bench choices as this series continues. Semi Ojeleye got some surprise extended run in Game 1 (23 minutes) as he did a nice job defensively on Siakam and Anunoby but his lack of offense (3 points, 1/5 FG) does pose the question whether the Celtics are better off with a more dynamic threat in that role. Grant Williams (2 fouls in 8 minutes) might warrant more of an extended look with his passing and screening ability or Romeo Langford might be needed for defense if the Raptors go small and Wanamaker is having trouble hanging with the Toronto guards. The good news for Brad Stevens is that he still has the ability to ramp up the starters minutes quite a bit. Jayson Tatum (37 minutes) was the only guy who played over 32 minutes in the rout so upping Walker/Brown/Smart to that number that should help shrink Ojeleye’s minutes moving forward if he isn’t knocking down his 3s. The good news for Boston? The reserves held their own from a production standpoint in Game 1 against Toronto’s firepower in Ibaka and Powell. If they can continue to hold their own, the Raptors are going to have trouble matching Boston’s scoring in the starting five.