LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida – The Boston Celtics may have played their best game of the 2019-20 season on Friday, beating the Toronto Raptors 122-100 in a game that was more unbalanced than the final score would indicate.
But afterward, Celtics manager Brad Stevens had no plans to make winning laps, not with a potential rematch with Toronto looming in the Eastern Conference semifinals in a few weeks’ time.
“This match will mean nothing if we have this opportunity again,” Stevens later said. “They are a really good team. And I thought they missed a lot of open eyes and it just wasn’t their night.
“I thought our boys played well, though. But it won’t mean a thing in a couple of weeks.”
It may not be. But the Boston win means the Celtics have won the season 3-1 series against their Atlantic Division rivals and sets a scorer ahead of what would be a truly fascinating series between these two teams if they manage to meet in the playoffs of the ‘ East.
Toronto won’t want any of those games to look remotely like this, as the Raptors – who had won their previous four games inside the championship bubble here at the Walt Disney World Resort – were sensationally smothered by the Celtics from start to finish. . Boston controlled the game from the start, but after the Raptors finished under eight at the start of the third, the Celtics beat Toronto 36-12 for the remainder of the fourth to climb 91-57 after three quarters, causing the Raptors coach Nick Nurse retired after the third quarter and renounced the white flag.
“It was difficult to score,” said Nurse of his team, who fired 42% from the field and 26% from 3 points. “This is one of those nights where it didn’t seem like it, I think we had 19 threes in the first half and I’m trying to think about which ones I didn’t want us to catch. There might be one we had to throw up or something, a deal with 24 seconds. The others were pretty good and I think it hurt us not to have knocked anyone down. It put us off a bit.
“We were playing pretty well on defense in the beginning, like last night, but we couldn’t get any attacks to give us energy. Give them credit, they were moving, they were active, but you have to step in and do some di those shots if you want to beat a good team. “
Toronto had entered this game by dominating defending teams, but the Celtics were able to break free during the match, shooting 49% from the field and hitting 16 by 3 points to create more than enough separation to achieve victory. Jaylen Brown led all scorers with 20 points and was outstanding in defending Toronto star Pascal Siakam (11 points on the 5v15 shot) over the other.
“I think Pascal has had many excellent opportunities, do you understand what I mean?” The nurse said. “It wasn’t like he wasn’t getting his chances and he had some very open looks, and he also had some good impulses which I thought he was patient and composed and got good hits. Some nights just don’t go in. And then for the rest, no one else he recovered. “
As a result, the Celtics have achieved the most impressive win inside the bubble to date, although, once again, good luck getting Stevens to admit it.
“Well, Wednesday morning I didn’t think we were very good,” said Stevens, referring to the Boston defeat to a Miami Heat team that Jimmy Butler didn’t have on Tuesday night. “So I’m not sure I changed with just two nights of sleep. We have played a little better in the last two games, but we have a long way to go to get to where we want to be.”
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