In what was being heavily-billed as a potential Eastern Conference second-round preview, the Raptors and Celtics squared off in Orlando on Friday night, each eager to send a message and assert their dominance, but in the end, it was Boston who did precisely that with a 122-100 blowout win over Toronto.
Jaylen Brown had the hot hand for Boston, leading seven players in double-digit scoring with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-8 from three. Jayson Tatum added 18 points, seven rebounds, and four assists, while Daniel Theis logged a big double with 11 points and 11 boards and knocked down two of his four three-point attempts.
Toronto was unbeaten going into their tilt against the Celtics, having firmly re-established their status as the reigning champs through the first week of action in the bubble and already secured the No. 2 seed, as they held a 4.5 lead over Boston in the East standings.
But the Celtics reminded them that the road through the East won’t be a cakewalk as they were able to badger the Raptors into a horrific shooting night. Toronto went 10-of-38 from three-point range overall for the game, which started with a brutal 1-10 in the opening quarter. Boston didn’t fare much better early on, starting the game 3-of-10 from the field.
The Celtics eventually turned on the jets and took a 31-16 lead early in the second quarter, but it was Kyle Lowry (11 points) and and Fred VanVleet (13 points) who finally showed some signs of life, leading a 7-0 run to briefly cut the lead to single digits.
The first half didn’t offer many Raptors highlights, but it did give us this beautiful pass from Marc Gasol to a cutting VanVleet for the layup.
More credit needs to be given to Gasol for the pass. Wasn’t quite a one-timer but he knew before VanVleet did pic.twitter.com/5yJU9GPd7F
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) August 8, 2020
Theis led the way for the Celtics in the first half, scoring all of his 11 points before halftime and knocking down two of his four three-point attempts.
.@dtheis10 is doing it all tonight
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) August 8, 2020
Overall, the Raptors shot just 31 percent in the first half, including 3-of-18 from behind the arc. But Toronto came out with a lot more energy to start the third quarter and was able to briefly cut the lead to 10 behind a 6-0 run, capped off by a nice steal by VanVleet on Walker.
Fred VanVleet ripped Kemba
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 8, 2020
But that turned out to be short-lived. Things got ugly quick after halftime, behind what ended up being a 36-12 run in the third quarter for the Celtics to push the lead to 91-57 going into the final frame, thanks to some hot play from Kemba Walker (17 points, four assists) and Tatum.
even through contact, @KembaWalker‘s gonna get his pic.twitter.com/Xz4TC2cOIE
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) August 8, 2020
They did it in part by going 7-of-11 from long-range in the quarter, with everybody getting in on the action from distance.
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) August 8, 2020
Toronto waived the white flag after that and took their first loss of the restart, with Boston moving to 3-2 in Orlando. The loss makes the Phoenix Suns the last undefeated team in the bubble.
Source: https://uproxx.com/dimemag/celtics-blow-out-raptors-east-playoff-preview/