Here are five things to watch out for when the Boston Celtics and the Toronto Raptors meet at 7:30 p.m. tonight at TD Garden.
Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan have been the Big Two for Toronto over the past three-plus seasons. Have they now found the missing piece to turn themselves into the Big Three?
Jonas Valanciunas appears to be primed for his first top-flight season in the NBA. After averaging 18.1 points and 11.5 rebounds per 36 minutes during the preseason, Valanciunas came out of the gates with a monster 21-point, 15-rebound performance during Toronto’s season-opening win over the Pacers.
The Raptors signed the 7-foot center to a lucrative four-year extension this offseason, and that may aid him in playing with more confidence and relaxation this season. That, in turn, may give Toronto three high-level players to rely on this season, compared to last season’s duo of only Lowry and DeRozan.
We’ve already talked about Valanciunas. Now it’s time to talk about who will defend him.
Tyler Zeller, who played only 10-plus minutes Wednesday night, will open the game against Valanciunas. Zeller is likely to see far more playing time tonight than he did in the opener, simply because of Valanciunas’ presence.
The same can be said for former Raptor Amir Johnson. Johnson logged only 20 minutes during Boston’s opener while scoring 15 points and grabbing seven boards. He may finish closer to 30 minutes tonight than 20, while spending quite a bit of time playing against Valanciunas. Also keep an eye out for Jared Sullinger, who will oftentimes be tasked with defending Toronto’s big man.
Toronto went out and made a splash during free agency this past offseason by signing DeMarre Carroll away from the Atlanta Hawks. Carroll was one of the hottest names on the market after he averaged 14.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game last postseason for Atlanta.
With Carroll on board, the Raptors have the option to play a brand of ball similar to the style Boston showcased late last season. Brad Stevens fell in love with the idea of playing Jae Crowder or Jonas Jerebko at power forward, with a standard big man alongside them at the center spot. Toronto can now play Carroll or Patrick Patterson at the 4 while surrounding them with three perimeter-oriented players.
It’s nearly a guarantee that these two teams will play small ball at some point during each of their 82 games this season. Tonight, however, with both teams possessing the ability to go small, we may see it for lengthy stretches of play.
Boston and Toronto have many similarities. They also have one huge difference.
Boston’s offensive brand of basketball is highlighted by teamwork. The Celtics move the ball around until someone gets a high-percentage shot, regardless of which player that may be. Such teamwork helped them rank fourth in the league in assists per game (24.6) following Isaiah Thomas’ arrival last season. Boston currently ranks first in the league in APG this season after dishing out 31 during its opener.
Due in large part to the presence of Lowry and DeRozan, Toronto relies much more on individual play. The Raptors ranked 22nd in the league in APG last season with an average of 20.7 per game and dished out only 19 during their first game this season.
These two teams bring conflicting – yet successful – brands of offensive basketball to the table. It’ll be fun to watch them collide tonight.
One enormous advantage that comes out of Toronto’s isolation brand of offense is that its players get to the line on a regular basis. DeRozan and Lowry are very difficult players to defend without committing a foul.
Such is evidenced by the fact that DeRozan (6.0) and Lowry (3.6) combined for nearly 10 points per game from the free-throw line last season. They were on another level during Wednesday’s season opener, when DeRozan cashed in on 10 of his 16 freebies and Lowry made five of his six attempts. Toronto made 27 of its whopping 39 free throw attempts overall.
Keeping Toronto’s top two scorers off the line will be an emphasis for Boston tonight. It’s very difficult to win a game if you send the opponent to the stripe for more than 30 attempts.
