Impressive 3rd quarter goes to waste, Celtics lose season opener 93-87

Photo credit: Ron Turenne/NBAE via Getty
The Celtics came back from a 15-point deficit in the 3rd quarter fueled by some nice defense and good transition plays, yet unfortunately that was not the case for the entire game. The impressive-at-times basketball of the Celtics was overshadowed by general sloppiness, and the Raptors took advantage of that in clutch time.

The Good: Jeff Green scored 25 points on 8-16 shooting and Bass contributed with 17, Bradley pulled 5 rebounds (second-highest on the team) and Wallace had 4 steals (they will also be featured in the paragraph below), Humphries almost had a double-double coming of the bench (20 mins, 8 pts, 9 rebounds) and Faverani had 13 points and 3 blocks. Oh, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but Crawford looked mature out there with 7 points, 4 assists and only 1 turnover. 

The Bad: Olynyk was simply lost out there. (2 pts and 3 TOs), Bradley shot poorly (4-13) and turned the ball over way too much, yet he still had one less turnover than Wallace did who lost the ball 5 times, Lee could have shot better to make use of the opportunity he was given.

The Ugly: The Celtics need to work on two things: First of all, careless play. You can't have 20+ turnovers and expect to win an NBA game. It's not like the Raptors put up a defensive show, it's just that the Celtics were utterly careless at times. Secondly, offensive rebounds. You can't let your opponent grab 19 offensive rebounds, it's as simple as that. It all boils down to a lack of concentration, and to paraphrase Wallace it's one thing to be out-talented yet it's another to simply not give 100% out there.

Overall, I believe it's a good sign that the Celtics have kept this game close, but they still have a lot of work to do.