Holly MacKenzie – Raptors.com
Evan Turner scored to put the Celtics up nine with 2:09 remaining. After getting within one early in the fourth quarter, the Raptors offence stalled and they ran out of time against the Celtics, falling 91-79. With the loss, Toronto drops to 48-22 on the season.
Patrick Patterson missed his second consecutive game with a sore left ankle, while Kyle Lowry was out with a sore right elbow. Cory Joseph started for Lowry, while Jonas Valanciunas made his return to the starting lineup after missing the previous four games with a left hand contusion.
The Raptors officially clinched a playoff spot with the New York Knicks defeating the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday. It would have been a bit more fun had the Raptors clinched because of their own victory in Boston, but either way, another postseason officially awaits.
Despite a rough shooting first half where the Raptors made just 39 percent of their shots while giving up 46 percent shooing to the Celtics, things were tied at the break. Toronto’s defence improved as the game went on, and the team received a boost from Terrence Ross with eight points in the second quarter.
A brutal third quarter left Toronto with a seven-point deficit to make up in the fourth and it proved to be too much for the undermanned roster. The Raptors made just 5-of-17 field goals (29 percent), and were outscored 23-16 in the third as they also turned the ball over seven times in the quarter. Although a bench unit featuring rookie Delon Wright got within one with 9:25 remaining, Toronto couldn’t get the stops it needed down the stretch, and didn’t capitalize on trips to the line to make things easier.
Jonas Valanciunas looked good in his return from a left hand contusion. He scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds in 21 minutes of play and shot 5-for-10 from the floor. He also added a steal and two blocked shots against the Celtics.
Rookie Delon Wright gave the team a boost in his 20 minutes off the bench. While he struggled from the floor — like most of the team — making just three of his 10 field goal attempts, Wright pulled down eight rebounds and the team was a +4 when he was on the floor.
“We didn’t play well enough to win. Bottom line we didn’t play well enough to win. You know, you shoot free throws 11 for 20 … and miss as many open looks as we had, we didn’t deserve to win. That team, they beat us, they spanked us. They are a very good team and we talked about how good defensively they were. If you don’t play with force you are not going to score and we had trouble scoring.” – Dwane Casey on his team not executing well enough to get the victory
13… Just 13 assists for the Raptors compared with 24 for the Celtics. 35… Percent shooting in the game for Toronto, 44 percent for Boston. 55… Percent shooting at the free throw line for the Raptors. Toronto made just 11 of 20 attempts at the line. DeMar DeRozan was 8-for-9, while the rest of the team was a combined 3-for-11. 33… Point second half for the Raptors in just their second game this season where they’ve been held under 80 points.
“You know, they played extremely hard and they’re [fighting] for a spot and you know they got into us the whole game. They made everything tough on us. We missed a lot of easy shots, we missed a lot of free throws and with that we shot terribly. We were still in the game in the last couple minutes of the game, [but] you’ve got to give them credit. They play hard.” – DeMar DeRozan on how difficult it is to get going against the Celtics defence “They beat us every which way and you know, [if] you don’t play with force and play through the physicality you’re not going to be very successful against a team like [the Celtics] because they grab, hit, hold and you’ve got to play through that. If the officials are not calling it, you’ve got to play through it.” – Dwane Casey on his team being out of sync on both ends of the floor “Yeah, they really pressure you, pressure the ball and try to take you out of your defence, and their guards are really quick and they just try to take you out of everything and disrupt everything.” – Delon Wright on playing against an solid defensive team like the Celtics
Up next: The Raptors are off to Houston to take on the Rockets on Friday at 8 P.M. ET.
