Gameday: Celtics vs. Raptors, Aug. 7

Let’s be mean to the green. That was dumb, sorry. Let’s beat the Celtics!

First up, here’s Es and the three points:

The final regular season showdown between two of the East’s best teams. And hopefully a taste of what is yet to come in the second round. The Celtics are 2-2 since entering the bubble. Two wins vs. lower seeded teams (Blazers and Nets) and two losses to the Heat and Bucks. Outside of a very poor shooting performance from Jayson Tatum in their opener, they’ve received pretty good performances from their key players, despite the .500 record.

The Raptors on the other hand have opened up with a 3-0 record in the bubble seeding games, and have looked the part of the Eastern Conference’s best team, and perhaps the league’s as well. Throwback performances from Kyle Lowry and Marc Gasol have become so frequent that they might just be “performances” now. Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, and OG Anunoby continue to grow their games by leaps and bounds. And the driving forces of the Raptors bench (Serge Ibaka, Norman Powell) have finally captured their form after a game vs. the Magic. There’s a lot of teams that are trying to recapture whatever their idealized version of themselves is, and the Raptors look closer than any other team, due to their imaginative and intelligent defense.

The obvious matchup to look out for is the one that’s received a lot of (maybe too much?) lip service this season, and that’s Tatum-Siakam. Siakam has been fine-tuning his guard skills this year to the point where he probably profiles as the Raptors ‘3’ or swingman instead of OG Anunoby, and in terms of coverage and closeouts on defense, he might be the league’s best. Tatum has unleashed hell-fire from downtown with his pull-up game, made good on his 3-level scorer potential, and defended the perimeter extremely well. It’s shaping up to be a classic matchup if we get it this postseason. For now, just because of Siakam’s comfortability to slide into post-ups offensively, and the Raptors amoebic and help-oriented defense – I think this head-to-head favours Siakam.

In Siakam’s only game against the Celtics this year, he was defended by Gordon Hayward for the majority of possessions, and received a healthy amount with Jaylen Brown on him as well. Keep in mind, Siakam wasn’t established as a “go-to” guy at this point in the season, so the Celtics might view that matchup differently now. With that said, Siakam put up an uber-efficient 33 points against the Celtics and still profiles as a major stylistic troublemaker for them.

When I think back to the Christmas game that the Raptors lost to the Celtics, I immediately think of Brown’s impressive off-the-dribble shooting. That performance hasn’t been sustained, necessarily, but it’s something he’s capable of repeating and something the Raptors defense will have to keep an eye on. As for Hayward, he’s had a much better year than most think and he’s been a forgotten man in Boston. However (comma) he has the control, size, and touch to be one of the few wing players who can punish either of the Raptors stout guards in the post. The Celtics like to run a stagger screen action for him to get him into the middle of the floor where he’s one of the best mid-range shooters in the league and a quality passer. He’ll also get some mid-post touches, the kind that the Raptors were really good at negating with LeBron James and Anthony Davis in their first seeding game. Only this time, Hayward will likely have room to work because the Raptors will lock in on Tatum and Kemba Walker. Don’t be surprised if Hayward pops a little bit in this game.

The VanVleet-Walker matchup should play near a draw. VanVleet’s brand of defense is almost tailor-made for stopping a player like Walker. We’ve seen that matchup a lot this year (it’s actually Walker’s most quantitative) and VanVleet has held him to a gob-smacking 3-19 from the floor with five turnovers. Big ups to ‘FVV’.

I’ll be interested to see which wing player Nurse & co. decide to stick OG Anunoby on, and I’ll probably clip the outcomes and make sure you, the reader, end up seeing the highlights.

With Gasol healthy on defense, he’s probably been the Raptors most impressive defender. And after an assertive performance vs. the Magic front-court offensively I’m excited to see what he’ll look like vs. the Celtics, who have gambled by putting smaller players on him this season.

Game Info

Tipoff: 9pm EST | TV: TSN | Radio: 680 News

Raptors Lineups

Patrick McCaw (knee soreness) and Oshae Brissett (knee soreness) are doubtful.

PG: Kyle Lowry, Terence Davis II

SG: Fred VanVleet, Norman Powell, Matt Thomas, Paul Watson

SF: OG Anunoby, Malcolm Miller, Stanley Johnson

PF: Pascal Siakam, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Chris Boucher

C: Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka, Dewan Hernandez

Celtics Lineups

PG: Kemba Walker, Brad Wanamaker, Carsen Edwards, Tremont Waters, Javonte Green

SG: Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Romeo Langford

SF: Jayson Tatum, Semi Ojeleye

PF: Gordon Hayward, Grant Williams

C: Daniel Theis, Enes Kanter, Robert Williams, Tacko Fall

Have a blessed day.

 

 

 

Gameday: Celtics vs. Raptors, Aug. 7 originated on Raptors Republic.