Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
Raptors Embarrass Themselves Against Celtics As Season Nears Its Disappointing End
What was the point of all this?
At no point this season have the Toronto Raptors looked like anything better than a mediocre team. Frankly, mediocre might be generous. They are exactly what their record says they are: bad. They lose more often than they win and have done so for virtually the entire year.
It’s over. Not officially quite yet. Toronto has a few more games before this season mercifully comes to an end. At least two. Maybe as many as seven or eight. But this team is done.
Toronto barely even showed up Friday night in Boston. This wasn’t even Boston Celtics’ A team. Jaylen Brown didn’t play, nor did Marcus Smart or Malcolm Brogdon. Jayson Tatum jogged around in the first half before calling it a night in the second. And still, the Raptors couldn’t help but embarrass themselves, falling 121-102 to drop, unsurprisingly, back below .500.
Pascal Siakam had the lone highlight of the night. He threaded a spectacular pass through the legs of Robert Williams III to find Jakob Poeltl for the opening points of the night.
After that, it all fell apart.
Boston got everything it wanted offensively. Transition buckets? Sure. Pick-and-roll for wide-open layups? Be our guest. Tatum barely broke a sweat racking up 21 points in the first half on 7-for-12 shooting to become the first player in Celtics history to average 30 points per game, assuming he doesn’t play Sunday.
Toronto’s defense was so bad the Celtics were a perfect 15-for-15 from two-point range. It wasn’t until the start of the third quarter that the Raptors got their first stop inside the arc, a missed floater from Williams.
The Raptors fell behind by as many as 36 late in the second quarter. It’s why the Scottie Barnes look-back 360 dunk down 31 points didn’t quite qualify as some impressive slam. It was prompted by a smattering of boos from the Celtics faithful who showed up to watch the second-stringers.
Toronto came out with a half-hearted response in the second half, cutting Boston’s lead down to 17. Considering the Celtics’ rotation in the second half, a comeback may have been possible. But the Raptors couldn’t maintain the momentum.
A wide-open Al Horford three and the continued onslaught of threes from Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard kept Toronto down. Hauser, a former undrafted player who began his career on a two-way contract, led all scorers with 26 points.
The Celtics played 10 players Friday, excluding the three rotation players they had sidelined. They barely cared. The Raptors, conversely, kept their rotation tight until garbage time, playing just nine deep, maybe one more than their play-in rotation. But if Toronto actually wanted this one, nobody showed it.
The Raptors are now locked in to the No. 9 seed with nothing to play for Sunday in the season finale. At this point, these losses are probably helpful. Toronto can no longer drop lower in the play-in picture, but the losses should move the Raptors lower in the draft lottery standings. It could be the difference between picking 14th in the draft and 11th or 12th should the Raptors fail to make the playoffs.
Up Next: Milwaukee Bucks
The season will come to a close Sunday afternoon when Toronto plays host to the Milwaukee Bucks at 1 p.m. ET
