Three Studs, Three Duds As Celtics Keep Winning Streak Alive Vs. Raptors

The Boston Celtics hit the road winners of their last five game and faced the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday night. The Celtics were shorthanded but determined to keep the streak alive.

Boston entered the contest without Al Horford, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis — on short notice, too. So, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla called upon recently signed forward Torrey Craig to make the start along with backup sharpshooter Sam Hauser. It was the first time Craig logged a start since Nov. 20 with the Chicago Bulls, but even the last-minute lineup tweaks wasn’t enough to faze the Celtics.

The talent gap, this time between Boston and Toronto, was exploited once again, giving the Celtics their sixth straight win — all in double digits — along with an improved 42-16 record this season.

Here are three studs and three duds from Boston’s 111-101 victory over the Raptors:

STUDS
Jayson Tatum
Double-doubles are quickly becoming the norm for Tatum each night, and the 26-year-old notched his 26th of the season.

Tatum got off to a strong start, finishing the first half with nine assists to emphasize the importance of keeping the team in the win column above all else. He also scored 19 points with six rebounds and 11 assists, casually flirting with a triple-double while also getting everyone involved in keeping the Raptors at bay.

Payton Pritchard
There weren’t many options for Mazzulla to turn to off the bench, but Pritchard held the fort behind the starting unit.

Pritchard scored 20 of the bench’s 32 points, shooting 8-of-17 from the floor while knocking down four 3-pointers with seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. Fresh off a measly three-point performance against the New York Knicks on Sunday, Pritchard bounced back in a major way to carry on his Sixth Man of the Year campaign.

Boston’s dominance away from TD Garden
The Celtics have been the best of the best when it comes to playing on the road, and that rang true once again.

Boston’s defense held Toronto to an ineffective 15.6% shooting across its 32 3-point attempts and never trailed the Raptors by more than one point. The Celtics knocked down each of their eight free-throw attempts, tallied four blocks to Toronto’s one and made up for their humbling 29.2% shooting from three by turning elsewhere for scoring production — Boston scored 52 points in the paint.

Mazzulla’s Celtics are now 24-6 on the road.

DUDS
Baylor Scheierman
Boston’s sharpshooting rookie got minutes but didn’t do anything with them.

Scheierman scored two points on 1-of-4 shooting from the field with two rebounds across 11 minutes. The Creighton product, selected in the first round of this past summer’s draft, was touted as a 3-point specialist. However, Scheierman failed to connect on his only attempt from beyond the arc in Toronto.

Scottie Barnes
Toronto’s go-to scoring option struggled to get going, especially from 3-point territory.

Barnes scored 21 points and missed all five of his 3-point attempts, committed two turnovers and missed two free throws. The 23-year-old failed to keep the Raptors competitive and disappeared in the second half, shooting just 2-of-5 from the floor as Toronto endured its 40th loss of the season.

Torrey Craig
The Celtics supplied Craig, their post-trade deadline pickup, with a chance to contribute but the eight-year veteran didn’t fare well. Craig provided four points on a quiet 2-of-7 shooting across 15 starting minutes. The 34-year-old also missed all five of his 3-pointers, grabbed three rebounds to contribute elsewhere and finished with a plus-4 rating.