BSJ Game Report: Celtics 105, Raptors 96 - Tatum's third quarter heroics, tough C's defense, earns season sweep of Toronto

Everything you need to know about the Celtics win over the Raptors, with BSJ insight and analysis

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics started out hot behind 10 points from Jrue Holiday, but five turnovers kept the first quarter spread at Boston by five. They added a couple to lead by the half, but they started to cool off, a trend that trickled into the third. Toronto whipped off an 11-3 run and quickly took a lead, but Jayson Tatum took over on both ends of the floor, keying a 20-4 run to actually push the lead to nine. It grew to 14 but Toronto made multiple runs in the fourth cutting the lead to six at one point and four later, but Boston answered each run to hold on for the win and the season sweep of the Raptors.

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Great guards: Boston’s starting backcourt of Holiday and Derrick White scored 22 points apiece, combining for 9-17 from 3. Holiday bookended his scoring with 10 in the first and eight in the fourth. White had 10 in the fourth, including a monster corner triple. 

“For him to have the confidence and his teammates to have the confidence in him to still hit him, he has to play that way,” Joe Mazzulla said. “I thought him and Jrue did a great job tonight just making plays on both ends of the floor … 

“Everybody forgets when Derrick first got here, the adjustment that it took for him, and Jrue is in that category now. And he’s just learning how to affect the game differently, and you can see him getting more comfortable on both ends of the floor.” 

- Great guarding: The Raptors really had no chance against Boston’s halfcourt defense. Whether it was a switching man-to-man or zone defense, when Boston was able to get their defense set, the Raptors were a mess. They scored 30 points in transition on 9-17 shooting. They were 29-78 (37.2%) in the halfcourt

- Make/miss league: Boston shot 16-39 from 3 (41%). Toronto shot 4-32 (12.5%). It’s tough to win any game when you’re outscored 48-12 from deep. As much as the defense was amazing for most of the game, the Raptors missed a lot of wide open shots that helped the Celtics out. 

TURNING POINT

With 7:14 to go in the third and Toronto leading 71-64, Tatum was back to defend a three-on-one break, and he snuffed it out. That was not only impressive because three-on-ones are generally automatic, it triggered a 20-4 close to the quarter where Boston not only erased Toronto’s lead, they extended their halftime lead. It was enough to give Boston back the control of the game they lost coming out of halftime. 

THINGS I LIKED

- Defense: The zone defense was notable because the Celtics were able to go to it and dare the Raptors to shoot over the top of it. 

“It forces us to communicate, forces us to talk, to cover for each other, to give multiple efforts,” Mazzulla said after the game. “Guys have a different sense of awareness when they're in the zone. Still lost some guys and I thought they missed some open shots I think if they make, it's a different story. But for the most part, I thought it just forced us to communicate, forced us to play a little bit harder, and the guys did a good job executing.” 

Boston held Toronto to quarters of 25, 20, and 21, with only the second eclipsing the Mazzulla magic number of 25. 

- Rebounding: The Celtics did a great job clearing away rebounds to finish off their defensive stops. There were some really tough ones in there, too. Tatum and Al Horford did a bulk of the work there. 

- Al Horford: 11 rebounds for Horford overall and he just seemed to be in the right spot to hit a big shot when Boston needed it. 

- Jayson Tatum: He finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds, but his six assists generated 17 points for Boston. The loudest two were from Luke Kornet: 

via GIPHY

More importantly, he had nine points, four rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block in the final 7:15 of the third quarter. That was a huge takeover to swing the game back in Boston’s favor. 

Oh, and he had this dunk, which is one of the nastiest I've ever seen from him: 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

- The start of the third: The third quarter issue, especially road third quarters, had gone away for a while. I guess it’s back now, though I’m not 100% convinced the problem isn’t more schedule/January related than it is what had been bothering them earlier this season. Either way, that was a rough start and it took Tatum’s heroics to get the game back and under some control. 

- Turnovers: They had 13 for 15 Raptors points. It was especially frustrating because the sloppy stretches came at points where the Celtics were on the verge of creating separation or even putting the game away. Running was the only way Toronto could score consistently, so this gave them life. 

- Kristaps Porzingis’ missed opportunity: He had six of Boston’s turnovers, which was an uncharacteristically sloppy game from him. At first glance of the box score, it looks like he didn't get enough shots. But in addition to his six, he got to the line 12 times. Add in the six turnovers and he finished with a usage rate of 23.3%, third-highest behind Tatum and White. He just didn’t make the most of his chances. This could have easily been a 20-plus point scoring night with a handful of assists. 

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- This was a very January win.

I think we’re going to have to get used to some sloppy games for the next couple of weeks. The travel finally settles down a little with a couple of home games before a three game road trip. Then it’s seven straight at home where the Celtics can finally recharge a bit and look forward to the All-Star break. 

Until then, these kind of disjointed efforts might be a little more of the norm. 

“It was a weird game,” Mazzulla said. “It was a weird environment; one of those situations where we had to constantly fight to create our own energy, fight to feed off of each other's activity … once we showed our hands and got second contests and kept them off the free throw line, we had some great defensive possessions. So I just thought our guys did a good job to stay in the fight.”

Just staying in the fight is a skill that gets good teams past this stretch. 

Next up: The Celtics come home for a couple of games in a row, starting with the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night