BSJ Game Report: Raptors 125, Celtics 119 (OT) - C's win the part of the game that mattered

Everything you need to know about the Boston Celtics preseason win and loss (I’ll explain) over the Toronto Raptors, with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics followed a similar formula for their second preseason game. After a tight first quarter, they used some hot 3-point shooting to build a big lead and cruise from there when it was starters vs. starters. The end of bench guys battled it out at the end, which was fun for the crowd, but bad for the Celtics.

Box Score

HEADLINES

A win and a loss: It was 81-62 Boston when Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, and Al Horford subbed out. That's a win to me. Ok, it was 63-48 after that, which is bad. Luckily, a lot of the people who performed poorly in that stretch won’t be around for the regular season. 

Malcolm Brogdon is good: Second straight game with 9 assists for Brogdon, four of which fed Sam Hauser for 3-pointers. Brogdon on the floor, especially leading the second unit, has been a difference maker so far. 

Hauser the floor spacer: He went 5-8 from deep in this one, and 4-5 in the preseason opener. He also impressively got to the rim late in the game, making a couple of layups and drawing an and-1 to give the Celtics a lead in the battle of the benches. Hey… it might be meaningless to the standings, but guys are competitive out there. 

Tatum the attacker: He’s in his trademark October funk (we’ll see if that carries over into the regular season), but he was great attacking the rim. He attacked with purpose and drew the fouls he’s always been looking for without hunting for them. 

TURNING POINT

For the regulars, it was the second quarter spurt where Brogdon found Hauser a couple of times for 3, triggering an 11-4 run. As far as I’m concerned, the Celtics won this game when it was regulars vs. regulars. 

The bench guys lost the game in overtime because they couldn't score or defend. 

FOUR UP

Jaylen Brown: First quarter JB is back again. He’s the tone-setter, finishing with 23 points on 9-14 shooting overall and 3-6 from deep. The best stat: 0 turnovers. Jaylen looks ready to go for the regular season. 

Jayson Tatum: The hunting for fouls led to turnovers and complaints. What we saw tonight led to free throws and finishes at the rim. It was a more aggressive Tatum who dominated a long stretch of that game even though he was 0-7 from deep. 

Sam Hauser: With the starters, he was a catch-and-shoot target who was fed by Brogdon for 3-pointers. Later, he put the ball on the deck to finish a couple of nice drives. Hauser is positioning himself to claim the bulk of Danilo Gallinari’s available minutes. He finished with 22 points on 8-12 shooting (5-8 3pt). 

Malcolm Brogdon: The offense started out a little stagnant as the Celtics settled for a lot of one-pass 3-pointers. Brogdon checked in and the assist spigot opened up. He ended up with 9 of them, and Boston had 31 overall. 

“He's extremely good at basketball. Probably underrated for the past couple years,” Brown said. “What he does for us is going to be huge. He can be a go-to guy anywhere else. How he reads the game, how he picks and chooses his spots. He just got out there and made the play right every time. Really makes our offense go. We're going to be leaning on him a lot and we're going to grow throughout the season. I love Malcolm so far."

THREE DOWN 

Justin Jackson & Brodric Thomas: I’m lumping them together because they came in and missed everything, combining to go 0-10, 0-7 from 3, in 12 minutes. Thomas also added 4 personal fouls and a missed free throw. They were a huge reason for the bench squad not holding off the Raptors’ bench. 

Noah Vonleh: Played just 2:35. At one point he looked like a lost toddler when the bench was yelling defensive matchups at him. There are rumblings that the coaching staff likes what they’ve seen so far, but I don’t. 

TOP PLAYS

TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Tatum is addressing a key weakness on his drives

The way Tatum drove in this game stood out. Not only was it the type of aggressive north/south type of attacking he needed to start using, he kept the ball up high, swinging up by his head rather than down by his knees. 

There was no gliding past the rim to avoid contact. There was no hunting for the foul and bringing the ball into everyone’s hands. He just went right to the front of the rim and kept the ball out of reach of any prying hands.

“Yeah just trying to keep the ball high,” Tatum said after the game. “Obviously, playing against a team like Toronto, they help a lot, they're active with their hands. So just trying to keep it above and finish up top when I can.”

The result was 7 free throws in 29 minutes of play. If this is how Tatum attacks this season, then you can put him in the MVP race right now. That's not being hyperbolic, either. This has been the one element of his offense that has held him back, and if he can fix this and play this way the whole season, he’ll be a bulldozer who averages close to 30 points per game. If his 3-point shot was falling tonight, he could have easily had 24-27 points instead of 18. 

- Brogdon is very clearly going to be one of the most important players on this team, and that's suddenly scary

I can’t overstate how much of a difference Brogdon has made in these two games. The obvious caveats apply to preseason (I was once convinced they could run an effective offense through David Lee in the high post), but this game served as confirmation enough to me. 

The Raptors actually wanted to play well in this game. They wanted to send an early message about their status in the East. But Brogdon came in against good defenders and picked them apart. 

That's the power of Brogdon off the bench and surrounded by shooting. Brogdon, Hauser, and Grant Williams have been effective together. Now imagine running that unit in to start the second half with Brown and eventually Robert Williams. 

Yikes. 

But the scary part now is knowing how much injuries have factored into Brogdon’s career. He’s going to be a massive part of this team’s success, and the prospect of the injury bug biting him is anxiety-inducing. 

Let’s hope that this role is one that keeps him healthier. And also, please remember that jinxes aren’t real.