BSJ Game Report: Raptors 110, Celtics 97 - Another second half free fall, and a new low for Boston

Everything you need to know about the Celtics loss to the Raptors, with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL

Boston started slow and fell behind 15-5, but Jayson Tatum and Payton Pritchard powered a big response and a four-point lead. The second quarter was pretty sloppy, but the C’s shot 6-13 to survive and go into the half down only two. They fell behind by six after the third, mostly because their defense was hot garbage, but even when Toronto started missing shots, the Celtics were frigidly cold and couldn't take advantage. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Rock Bottom? This loss feels worse, to me, than the others. The complete lack of defensive effort in the second half was disgusting. Forget the missed shots, of which there were many, the Celtics allowed 73.7% shooting in the third quarter. All it took was a couple of pick-and-rolls and Boston’s defense stopped trying. The offense looked awful for stretches as well, especially when Tatum was off the floor. All in all, it’s hard to imagine things getting worse. 

- Rough shooting continues: Derrick White was 1-7 on 3-pointers, Jrue Holiday was 0-3, Al Horford was 2-8, and Sam Hauser was 2-8. If it wasn’t for Kristaps Porzingis (4-5) and Pritchard (4-8), this would have been another sub-30% shooting night from deep. 

- Paint problems: The shooting woes seeped into the paint, where Boston was 20-39 (51.3%) and 17-29 in the restricted area. That's 12 misses at the rim, which are killers. 

TURNING POINT 

The Raptors went on a 9-2 run over the first four minutes of the fourth quarter to go up 13. That was an insurmountable lead given how poorly the Celtics were playing. 

THINGS I LIKED

- Payton Pritchard: The only consistently good Celtic in this game. He led the team with 20 points on 7-11 shooting and a 50% night from 3. He had four assists, a steal, and no turnovers on his way to a +6 in a 13-point loss. He should have played more. 

- Kristaps Porzingis: His shooting carried the C’s early on and he had some big plays at the rim, blocking two shots. He made his fair share of mistakes, but his game was probably 70/30 on the positive side. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

- Jaylen Brown: I don’t know what’s up with him right now. He hasn’t been great in this stretch for the Celtics, but he was mostly awful in this game. I feel like this was his worst performance of the season. He not only looked like he was running in mud, he looked completely out of it mentally. It’s so bad that I’m concerned something off the court is going on because at least that would make some sense. The Jaylen Brown we saw in this game was as bad as I’ve seen him play in a long time. He finished with 10 points on 4-16 shooting (1-1 3pt), seven rebounds, and four assists.

- Derrick White: He’s polar vortex-cold right now. He had six points on 2-9 shooting, just one assist and two turnovers. 

“I believe in him,” Joe Mazzulla said after the game. “He's going through a little slump, but he works hard enough, he'll bounce back.”

- Defensive effort: The second half was an absolute mess. The Celtics either didn’t know what they were doing out there, didn’t care, or a mix of both. They rarely put together a complete defensive possession, missing rotations and giving up open runs to the rim or clean looks from three, or giving up offensive rebounds when Toronto actually missed. 

- Non-Tatum offense: Tatum didn’t shoot well, but at least the offense was somewhat fluid when he was on the floor. The second-quarter offense was abysmal, with everyone mostly standing around while Brown ran slow pick-and-rolls. No one cut. There was no off-ball action. It was just a lot of standing and watching. 

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- No one fears the Celtics

At this point, teams are salivating at playing the Celtics. The Magic are on a 4-7 stretch heading into Boston on Friday, but you can bet that locker room is looking at the Celtics and thinking that this is a chance to take advantage of a team in a funk. All you have to do is play hard and the Celtics won’t keep up. 

I still don’t think this ultimately matters in the long run, but things are starting to progress a little bit. It’s like getting a cut and not taking care of it. At first, a little cleaning up will take care of it. After a while, it will take some more effort, but it’s easy to fix. If you don’t at that point, then a doctor might have to be called in. After that, serious steps will be needed or else this infection will become a serious issue. 

The Celtics could have washed up and fixed this days ago. Now they need some Neosporin and if it doesn’t get better in a few days, we’ll be talking about antibiotics. 

In basketball terms, that just means a whole lot more focus and effort to get back on track, or else Mazzulla will have to come up with a fix. The players can fix things now and get back to making teams break under the weight of the combined offensive and defensive effort. They should feel free to start on Friday. 

Next up: The Celtics return home to face the Orlando Magic on Friday night