RAPTORS GAVE IT AWAY

For the second time in four games the Raptors were stymied by an elite team in the Eastern Conference. First it was the Detroit Pistons, and now the Boston Celtics, to whom the Raptors lost 94-87 at the TD Bank North Garden.

This game is going to burn for a while, because the Raptors at one point in the game had the defending NBA Champs on the ropes. They were up by 16 points and the Celtics wouldn’t allow the Raps to deliver the knockout punch.

It was an entertaining ball game with a playoff like atmosphere where both teams traded big shot for big shot. But this was one the Raptors should have had.

They did everything right in the first half, their shooting was good, their ball handling was excellent, and the passing was superb. The Raptors only allowed the Celtics to score 36 points in the first half, which is a season low for Boston.

For the Raptors’ Jermaine O’Neal, he finally had a break out game, and collected his first double-double with Toronto. He had 19 points and 8 rebounds in the first half, and 10 points and 5 rebounds in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Chris Bosh had a slow night offensively with only 9 points, a season low. The Raptors finally got the scoring help they needed from other players, which propelled them to a lead at the break

In the second half, O’Neal and Kendrick Perkins went nose to nose with each other, as Perkins tried to get to O’Neal, because he knows he cannot guard him. For their pushes and exchange of words, they each got technical fouls, and Perkins picked up an extra personal foul as he started the shoving.

That altercation may have gotten to O’Neal, because he only scored 4 points in the second half, with zero in the third.

The bench scoring was led by Jason Kapono with 14 points, and chipped in with 6 assists. Joey Graham had a good game too with 8 points in 18 minutes. The inconsistent Andrea Bargnani had 2 points, compared to when he came up big for the Raps off the bench versus Charlotte on Sunday afternoon with 18 points. For the game, the Raptors bench outscored the Celtics 28-12.

The Big 3 was contained, and the key was to stop Paul Pierce, as he is the focal point of that offence and drives it. The Raptors did do a good job, and held Pierce to score the bulk of his first half points at the free throw line. The first half score was 48-36 for the Raptors.

To contain the Big 3 of Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Pierce, you have to play 4 defensive quarters, and the Raptors only played two.

In the second half, the Big 3 let loose, led by Pierce with 36 points, getting whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Nobody on the Raptors was able to stop him, because his moves were so decisive, that as a defender you didn’t know if he was going to drive the ball or pull up with a shot.

Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, each had 21 and 19 points respectively, and Garnett had ten rebounds for the double-double. In total, the Big 3 combined to score 76 of Boston’s 94 points, which came out to a percent of 80.

The Raptors for the most part did a good job of keeping the crowd quiet and out of the game. The defensive intensity of Garnet and the offensive flare by Pierce hyped up the crowd and began the rally.

Garnett’s defensive antics got to the Raptors, as he kept challenging them to do something and come his way. Then he got into the face of Jose Calderon, and barked at him all the way up the court. The 6’2 Spaniard wasn’t afraid of him, and got into it with the 6’11 Garnett.

The Boston defence, in the end, was just too much for the Raptors. The Celtics didn’t let Toronto get back into its offensive groove and held them to 43% shooting. The Celtics challenged every shot and pass and didn’t allow the Raptors to drive the lane. With that, they held the Raptors to only 39 second half points.

The Raptors had their chances in this game when they were up and could’ve added to the lead, but didn’t take advantage of Boston misses and turnovers.

On the flip side, after a doing such a great job of clogging up the lane, the Raptors broke down defensively and the Celtics were able to drive easily to the bucket. The Celtics outscored the Raptors 58-39 in the second half, which was headed by a huge 35 point fourth quarter. And Paul Pierce had 22 of those points.

Both teams tied for rebounds at 39 a piece, and the Raptors had the advantage in the assist department with 25, compared to Boston’s 17. In the game, there were seven lead changes and seven ties.


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