Raptors stun defending champion Celtics and extend win streak to two

Last night was a special night for the Toronto Raptors. Recently there had been a sense of unrest with the team as they had been piling up losses but instead of them being competitive losses they were just blowouts. Toronto began to show more fight in recent games, winning their previous matchup against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors and headed into last nights game, everyone knew it would be an uphill battle. Against large odds, Toronto found a way to beat the defending champion Boston Celtics and extend their winning streak to two games, and it was a cohesive effort from everyone in order to get this done.

Toronto held Boston, one of the top offenses in the league, at full strength, to a mere 97 points last night. The largest reason for this was their containment of Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Brown finished with 10 points on 4 of 16 shooting while Tatu finished with 16 points on 5 of 15 shooting, both well below their scoring averages.

Toronto played brilliant defense on Tatum, contesting his pull-up triple attempts well, showing him multiple bodies on most of his drives into the paint. Jakob Poeltl  always managed to get up a good contest guarding the pick n’ roll actions that Tatum ran, Scottie Barnes was often an extra body at the rim on his drives. Tatum showed an overreliance on the three point shot, which made possessions for Toronto simpler since they didn’t have to help on his drives as much.

Brown tried to attack from the mid range and the paint all game but Toronto defenders such as Davion Mitchell and RJ Barrett took bumps from him and kept their bodies on him all game. Brown was not touching the paint as much as he usually does which hurt Boston’s overall offense last night. With Tatum and Brown being held to a combined 26 points that opened the door for Toronto to be in this game and safe to say they did not waste that chance.

Barnes had a very complete game on both ends of the floor. Barnes spent most of the game operating as a playmaker initially, hitting Poeltl in the pick n’ roll, firing passes to Gradey Dick for threes, and he had a slick mid-air behind the back pass to Poeltl for a layup. Barnes also played tremendous defense especially as a helper being that last line of defense for this team on many possessions. In the second half Barnes really went to work in the mid-range, often catching it around the elbow area and rising over his defender time after time. Toronto needed Barnes to play like a star in order for them to win and that is what he did.

Barrett also played very well, showing off his cutting and finishing ability yet again, along with some nice playmaking as well. Barrett would burst into transition, keeping his head up to find any would-be scorers to fire the ball to, and that’s what he did multiple times. Toronto had to withstand many large runs from Boston, and Barretts consistent efficient scoring helped fend off the Celtics.

Poeltl was a constant source of offense as well, shooting a perfect 8/8 from the field anf finishing any paint look that he got. Jakob did run some dho and delay sets and got guys downhill or found guys in the paint, but when he put his mind to scoring that is what he did. When Boston turned to a zone later in the game Poeltl was the guy in the middle firing off his patented push shot for easy points. 

Many guys stepped up such as Mitchell and Dick who scored 10 and 12 points respectively. Dick had some nice passes on the move, including a wicked bounce pass to a cutting Barrett for a layup, and he just overall seemed more comfortable out there than he has shown in his recent games.

Every Raptors starter scored in double figures, and they got some contribution from the bench as well, the defense was cohesive, guys were rotating extremely well and running players off the line and really just battling on that end. The transition offense worked wonderfully, things were just great last night for the Toronto Raptors and they really showed the potential of this team.

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