Quick Reaction: Celtics 121, Raptors 113

Poeltl seemed a bit overwhelmed by Boston today, on the glass, on the defensive end, and just as a whole. He had some floaters drop early but he was routinely attacked on switches, and gave up a few offensive rebounds as well.

Barnes had some spectacular passes today, he was tossing the ball with velocity to cutters, passing the ball on the move after engaging defenders as well. Barnes was huge down the stretch as well, he was taking Queta off the dribble for some key buckets late, and he put up a strong effort in Toronto’s near comeback.

Quickley wasn’t involved in the offense too much today as a playmaker or scorer, he had a couple of floaters that came from attacking close outs, but outside of that he didn’t contribute much. He shot 0% from three, just a rough game for the Rapst starting guard.

Ingram’s scoring was good at times today, and he hit plenty of tough looks, but his defense and his lack of playmaking really hindered Toronto today. He would hit a tough post fadeaway, and then fall apart on the next possession when the Celtics would double. In crunch time he was not there, going ¼ in the 4th, highlighted by an ill-advised 30+ foot triple that missed.

Strange game for Walter today, it was one of his poorest defensive games this year, he just could not get past screens, he was routinely beat on his on-ball assignments and his touch was pretty poor as well.

Mamu moved off the ball pretty well, his cuts to the basket were a good source of secondary scoring today, His feel for when to move and which angle to attack were good as well. He had a great look late in the game that would have made it a one possession game for Toronto, but he couldn’t get it to fall.

Ochai had a rough time on Jaylen Brown today, but he offered one of his better games offensively as a consolation. He was the beneficiary of some fast break looks, but he also knocked down his open triples.

Gradey only played 7 early minutes, he never got a shot attempt up, and he never did anything that warranted more minutes for him.

Shead had some good pick n’ roll plays, his interior passing led to a few layups. Early on he struggled to score, had a few rim attempts blocked. Shead hit a key floater and three-pointer to keep Toronto in position to make the comeback.

Lawson stepped up pretty big for a guy who hasn’t really seen the court this year. His blazing speed was on display, and his jumper was strong as well. Thought his perimeter defense was stout also, he showed great lateral movement.

Darko was just trying to throw anyone onto the floor it felt like today, Alijah Martin’s first minutes during the game being in crunch time was not a good choice.