10 things from Raptors-Celtics
Welcome to the "10 things" recap by theScore features writer William Lou, which serves to highlight emerging trends from a Raptors perspective.
Tough: Give the Raptors credit for battling through and nearly pulling out a win in the TD Garden, where no lead is safe. Toronto handled the Celtics' physicality, dished it right back to them on defense, and should have closed out the game but lost in overtime.
Physicality: Kawhi Leonard, Serge Ibaka, and Pascal Siakam kept Toronto in the game with their ability to play through contact. Boston kept pressing up at every opportunity, and it neutralized just about everyone except the forwards. Toronto needs these types of scorers in the playoffs when every game is like this.
Wasted: The Raptors were doomed by poor execution in crunch time, just like in their loss to the Pistons. They had the ball and a four-point lead with less than a minute to go, and they squandered it. Much of the blame falls on Kyle Lowry for running a terrible play where he pretty much dribbled out the shot clock and drove into a turnaround shot that he bailed out of at the last second, which became a turnover plus a dunk for the Celtics.
Inflexible: It's unclear who was calling the shots down the stretch, but Lowry kept trying to screen for Leonard as if he was DeMar DeRozan, but it would not work. The Celtics blew it up each time by showing hard on Leonard and pressing him against the sideline, where he didn't quite have the handle to navigate tight quarters. The same issue happened against Detroit.
Success: The best way to deliver the ball to Leonard is to clear out the paint and have him establish strong post position. Leonard is money if he can face up against his man and shoot over the top, or drive hard and fade for a short baseline jumper.
Creativity: Nurse had a golden opportunity to draw up a play for Leonard to win the game, and just like in the Pistons game, he simply had him dribble the ball up the floor and shoot a contested jumper. There's nothing inherently wrong with going to Leonard, but there are better ways to deliver him the ball. Again, going through the post is one plan the Raptors should try, especially when they have a lot of time on the shot clock.
Muzzled: The common thread in all of Toronto's four losses is Lowry's disappearing act. He's not moving well of late; he's unable to drive to the basket and is always force-feeding the pocket pass to his bigs. The Celtics took away his pullup three by guarding him with a longer defender in Jayson Tatum. Lowry looks overworked and could use some time off.
Concern: OG Anunoby had his wrist taped coming into the game, and played just nine minutes before he was tackled in midair and fell hard on his hands. The Raptors are already down C.J. Miles and Norman Powell, and Leonard will presumably rest on the second night of a back-to-back after playing 43 minutes tonight, so the Raptors will likely have to lean on G Leaguers against the Bulls tomorrow.
Matchups: Toronto stacks up nicely against the Celtics. Defensively, the Raptors have an answer for everyone outside of Kyrie Irving, who is simply unstoppable when he gets going. They can switch interchangeably, especially in the starting unit, and they can maintain that identity with Delon Wright and OG Anunoby off the bench. They just need one more scorer and a better defensive big than Jonas Valanciunas to hold the upper hand in this matchup.
Unfortunate: Toronto got the short end of the stick on foul calls. Danny Green fouled out on three incredibly soft calls. Siakam then had his putback erased in a two-point game and Gordon Hayward instead stepped to the line for two free throws that tied the game.