BSJ Game Report: Celtics 112. Raptors 96 - Pritchard's near triple-double leads Celtics team effort in Toronto

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

IN A NUTSHELL

Payton Pritchard kept Boston close through some early team struggles, then the bench came in and whipped off a huge run to go up 12. The Raptors flipped that as Boston went cold, especially after the starters return, to lead by two at the half. Boston took that lead back thanks to a monster third quarter from Pritchard, and then Derrick White pushed it back into double digits in the fourth and Hugo Gonzalez helped shut the door.

Box Score

HEADLINES

- A true team win: It started with Pritchard. Then Luka Garza gave Boston a ton of extra chances with his rebounding and hustle. Anfernee Simons had an important stretch. White got going at a critical time. Gonzalez was a monster late. Baylor Scheierman played some important minutes. Everyone chipped in. 

- Pritchard goes off: You just knew he was going to bounce back after a rough game where he didn’t play in the fourth quarter. It’s easy to say the Celtics don’t win without a guy who scored 33, but Pritchard was a monster when the Celtics had little else working. 

- Coaching gem: Joe Mazzulla pressed all the right buttons. He pulled Garza out of the scrap heap, and it was a perfect call. He has all these guys on the same page and ready for these games. The out-of-bounds plays mostly worked really well. Even the defense, which pushed the Raptors out to the 3-point line, ultimate worked after an early barrage.  

TURNING POINT 

Boston closed the third quarter on an 8-0 run over the final 1:41. Then they extended that to a 22-4 run over 5:42 to go up 13 and never really look back. 

THINGS I LIKED

- Payton Pritchard’s bounce-back: He scored 19 in the third as the rest of the starters struggled. He also dished 10 assists and grabbed seven rebounds. Eight of his 13 makes came inside the paint. 

He also did this: 

“I'm very capable of doing that when I play with a sense of freedom, dribbling wise,” Pritchard said. “I definitely can do some moves. So that was a good read, Sam knocked it down, so it made it better.”

Pritchard leads the Celtics with 24.3 points per game on the second night of a back-to-back.

- Hugo Gonzalez: He had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, He was +37 in the 16-point win, which makes him +111 on the season. That's better than any other rookie this season. ANY other. 

He was a huge part of that fourth quarter run with plays like this: 

- Luka Garza: Not only did he have nine offensive rebounds, he had a handful of other possessions that he extended just by drawing fouls as he went for more. The team record for offensive rebounds off the bench is 11, and he would have gotten it if it wasn’t for some of those fouls. Garza and Gonzalez became the first teammates with double-doubles off the bench since 2016, when the powerhouse duo of Evan Turner and Tyler Zeller did it. 

- Derrick White’s fourth quarter: He struggled after yesterday’s incredible shooting night, but he figured it out in a big way in the fourth, scoring nine points on 3-6 shooting and going +13. 

- Anfernee Simons: He scored 15 and had a big early stretch where he helped carry the offense for a little bit. He led the bench scoring, which combined for 44 points. Two big bench night’s in a row is a luxury for Boston. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

- Jordan Walsh: He only played 12:44, all in the first half. He has come back down to earth a bit. I’m curious to see how these next few games go with Walsh regressing a little and Gonzalez coming on strong. 

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Don’t count anyone out this season. 

I was sitting there in the fourth quarter watching Scheierman not even come close on a 3-point attempt and then take a five-second violation trying to inbound the ball. I thought to myself, “I think I’m all set with Scheierman,” and he immediately made two incredible defensive plays, one of them leading to a beauty of an assist. 

This, of course, was after we had written off Garza, who hadn’t played meaningful minutes in weeks. 

And remember when Josh Minott was playing so well there was a concern that he might end up actually being too expensive? That was followed by Walsh, who became Boston’s elite defensive stopper. Which led to him being bench in the second half of this game in favor of a 19-year-old who was a big thing earlier in the season, went away for a bit, and now is back. 

It doesn’t matter what things look like at any particular moment, Mazzulla can reach into his bag of tricks and pull out stuff we didn’t expect. 

Garza and Neemias Queta played in a double-big lineup down the stretch, which is the first time they’ve played together in a game this season. 

No matter what you think, no matter how confident you are in something, just know that Mazzulla will go to anything at any time, so never write anyone or anything off when it comes to the Celtics this season. 

Next Up: The Celtics host the Indiana Pacers on Monday night.