BOSTON — Jrue Holiday’s return from a three-game absence and a Toronto Raptors team arriving as losers of 10 straight sounded like the right formula to get the Celtics back on track. Following recent defensive let-downs, Joe Mazzulla provided more evidence that it’s not as bad as it looks in Boston entering the new year.
“Our expected defense is #1 in the last 10 games, and our layup percentage defense is #1 in the last 10 games and our expected points per shot defense is like #3 in the last 10 games,” he said. “You know what our 3PT% is? 28th.”
That wouldn’t be a problem against a Raptors team that didn’t utilize the three much on their way to a near upset in their last trip to TD Garden. They attempted 40 this time (25%), and struggled immensely to control the ball against Holiday, Derrick White, who blocked four shots and the rest of Boston’s defenders in an eventual 125-71 win. Holiday scored 14 points and shot 4-of-5 from three, accumulating three of the Celtics’ 13 steals. Payton Pritchard added five threes in eight tries off the bench in the perfect formula for Boston’s back court.
It didn’t start that way. Both teams missed 10 threes back-and-forth to start the game cold. Jakob Poeltl split a pair of free throws to get Toronto on the board, Scottie Barnes delivered the first field goal by either team moments later and the Celtics fell to 0-of-8 before Jaylen Brown made Boston’s ninth try. The Celtics never got fully going in the half, shooting 37.5% from the field and 32% from three, but defended, ran and moved the ball enough to keep Toronto at arm’s length even as they piled up seven offensive rebounds.
Al Horford and Luke Kornet played drop on Poeltl and held him without a field goal attempt until the closing minutes of the first half after he scored 35 points on the Celtics in November. Instead, the Raptors turned the ball over 17 times in three quarters, shot 30.9% from the field and 21.9% from three in one of the sloppiest opposing performances Boston saw all season to that point. The Celtics led by as many as 56 points into the fourth, their largest of the year, after building a 37-point advantage through three.
Before that, Holiday and Tatum rimmed out on their first three-point tries. Brown turned the ball over trying to put his first miss back. White broke Boston’s 0-for-7 start from three, the Celtics going on to hit 17 of their next 29 from deep, but the real turnaround came on the defensive end. The Raptors left the first quarter with 12 points, Boston shattering its previous defensive best of 15 in the third quarter at Milwaukee last month. The Celtics held Toronto to 23 in the second and 18 in the third with Scottie Barnes, Kelly Olynyk and Poeltl in the lineup. Bruce Brown played in his second game since returning from offseason knee surgery.
White, who called the recent stretch his toughest since joining the Celtics, poured in another three and a pair of transition finishes ahead of the Raptors before the first ended. He chased down Chris Boucher for a block, leaving Sam Hauser banged up as the game turned in the other direction. The Raptors briefly threatened into the second quarter, making 5-of-7 after an 0-for-14 start from three, then faded later in the frame, falling behind by 13 on Pritchard’s back-breaking three at the end of the shot clock. Holiday hit White on the break for another score, beat Jamal Shead inside with a layup and drained a three before the buzzer to put Boston up 45-35 at the half.
In the third, Tatum buried back-to-back threes after an 0-for-4 start and scored two more points getting fouled behind the line. The Celtics went ahead by 16 on a string of passes to Holiday for three and Brown dunked with two hands charging downhill toward Ochai Agbaji. Holiday and Pritchard traded threes to go ahead by 21 before Tatum’s three minutes later made it 31. Tatum shot 11 of Boston’s 13 free throws before the fourth, when the Celtics emptied their bench. Hauser shot 4-of-7 from three, vaulting Boston to a 44-point edge into the fourth before he and Pritchard exited.
- Kristaps Porzingis missed his third straight game with a left ankle sprain. He went through an extended workout before the game without wearing anything on his ankle, shooting threes, moving in a defensive stance and looking comfortable. The Celtics play a back-to-back on Thursday in Minnesota and Friday in Houston, giving him a chance to return and get an extra rest night before Sunday’s showdown in Oklahoma City.
