So Bayless is a no go and everyone else on the trip that will play. But I still don't like the Raptors chances much. Boston after having a loss to Toronto earlier in the year is not going to sleep on them. Not to mention they are riding a high coming from beating one of the NBA's best in the Spurs. It makes the Raptors come from behind win in Cleveland not seem all that notable in comparison.
Boston wins the tip and like a continuation of the last time they met Paul Pierce opens the scoring. Kleiza answer with a foul line jumper and were off and running and tied at 2. Boston turnover on a 3 second call and a nice up and under move by Andre for a jumper for 2. Ray Allen an open 3 this is like a recurring nightmare for Demar DeRozan and the Raptors. Pierce like in the last game they met getting to the line and making a pair and Celtics led 7-4. Rondo jumper would add to the lead. Calderon responds hooking up Amir for an easy 2 and it was 9-6 Celtics just 3 minutes in. Bargs some decent D on Shaq leads to a stop and Calderon bucket on the other end. But Ray Allen strikes again he says it is 3, refs say it is 2 and they will review it. Replay says give that man a 3 pointer but for moment it is 2. Ray Allen would get an extra point prior to the review as he made a tech on an illegal defence call for the Raptors. Pierce a 3 and no dispute on that one. Celtics were up 15-8 pending review. Klezia hits a 3 to get the Raptors within shouting distance. Raps would get back to within two and then give up an easy slam to Big Baby Davis.
Back to back hoops for DeRozan would tie the game at 17. Celtics would reel off 4 points and a time out was called which should produce another point for Boston as that Ray Allen shot had yet to be reviewed. It looked like clearly a 3 to me. Yes indeed after the time out it was 22-17 not 21-17 so give Ray Allen another 3. An Ed Davis sighting it has been awhile since Ed had a decent game. Rajon Rondo with a move that I just don't have words to do just to what he did. It was an assist for Rondo and it was entertaining for everyone watching. Time Out with 2:11 left in the first and their lead was 9 with the score 28-19. Turnovers down the stretch and Boston had a 34-22 1st quarter lead.
Celtics shot 63.7% in that Quarter, the Raps were not bad at 56%. Raps open the quarter sticking a jumper and came out in a zone on D. Not a good idea against this team. Harangody nailed a 3 and was off to a great start off Boston bench. J.O takes Ed Davis to school and would score. Ed Davis would get some revenge with a block later on, but Raps were in trouble down 13 in this one with the score 39-26 in favour of green team. Barbosa steal and drop off for Andrea, but he is short on the 3 attempt and Boston makes them pay with 2. Bargnani on next possession steps out of bounds and turns it over. Ed Davis was getting in a individual battle with J.O and he was more than holding his own. He dunked one on J.O and given his short lack luster Raptor career I enjoyed it. But Raptors were still down 13. It was getting worse Nate Robinson nails a 3 and Jose Calderon was easily picked out of the play. Celtics were 6/9 from 3 and had a huge 51-34 lead with still over 5 to play in half.
A Kleiza turnover was not helping the cause. Can we just start Julian Wright I mean what do we have to lose? Rondo back on the floor and Raps were getting torn apart. Down 21 sure now let's call a time out Jay Triano. But honestly no time outs regardless of when they were called tonight. A Calderon 3 out of the time out was only and band-aid to a cut that needed about 18 stitches with was the Celtics lead. Boston was running Toronto off the floor and built the lead back to 22. It was 67-45 at the half and Celtics were putting on a clinic at the expense of the Raptors.
Could the Raptors offer anything in this second half. Well perimeter D was not better as Pierce hits a 3 to push the lead back to 21 and Shaq would make that 23. Nice bucket for Demar in paint a leaner over Shaq. Celtics were just getting to many easy baskets in this game another Big Baby slam. This was just ugly and the Raptors were just a team that looked out matched. In traditional Raptor fashion they would make a little push to get to down 15. But another 3 from Boston and it was back to 18. Raptors were having a long night and to be honest so am I watching it. But Raps would make another push and a Barbosa 3 would make it a 13 point. An Andrea "Air Ball" would not help matters, Jay Triano seemed convinced he was fouled. Jay seems to have a growing issues with calls. Why not blow a gasket and get booted to make a point. We all know that he knows the magic word and he could break a clipboard too. Squeaky wheel gets the oil just ask Doc Rivers who always has some words for the refs. Meanwhile the game was still in progress and Boston was leading 94-77 late in quarter. In fact that is what the score would end up being after 3.
Here was the Raptors were going fool you run started with a Kleiza 3 to cut lead to 2 touchdowns. If Raptors can sign Tom Brady to a 10 day contract they might have a shot. He does have a bye this weekend in NFL. But Instead Boston's other BIG STAR...Rajon Rondo nails a rare 3 for him. Raptors were still fighting as Bargs got what he would call a slam to cut it back to 12. Jack Armstrong had an excellent analogy for what was going on. It was like the Celtics were the big brother holding the little brother (Toronto) by the head and letting him swing wildly and miss. Raptors had back to back misses in form of turnovers with a chance to cut lead to 10. Out of a time out Ray Allen makes a 3 and that was that. The Raptors fools gold run was over and Boston lead 107-86 with under 7 to play. The Boston reserves were in and they were still kicking Raptor tail. Harangody was looking better than RUDY out there. He went to N.D for school if you didn't know. There really is no more to say about this that has not already been said. Raptors were digging a bigger hole. When the pain stopped it was 122-102.
Really there is nothing good to say about anyone's performance that comes to mind. I have some work for The Score to do on Sunday. But have no fear Ryan our DNB Intern is here. He will have your pre-game and post game for the Raptors vs Kings. I am only going to be able to see a portion of that one. Ryan will do a good job I am sure of that. I may get a blog in sometime tomorrow. This was an ugly one and the less said about it the better.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment