Brown, White hold off Raptors in late-game scare



The Celtics held on to win 121-113 after the Raptors mounted a 23-point comeback. Boston held control for most of the game but began to let the lead slip away late before saving themselves in crunch time. 

The Celtics would take control of the first quarter, outscoring the Raptors 34-26 with Derrick White leading the way with 14 points. The three-point shooting was once again lethal early on, shooting 6/14 in the first quarter, along with 4 offensive rebounds for 7 second-chance points. 

A defensive duo of Jordan Walsh and Derrick White has given teams fits, and they did once again in the first, with Walsh grabbing three steals and White blocking two shots. 

After a good opening quarter, the Celtics offense would become a machine in the 2nd, scoring 43 points on 58% shooting from the floor and 46% from three. The Celtics were especially active in the paint, scoring 22 points in this area. A big reason for this was 8 more second-chance points, as well as getting easy transition buckets with 12 fast-break points.

The defense would slip a bit, allowing 33 points. Despite the Raptors making just two threes, they managed to score 33 points largely because of free throws, taking 11 in the quarter. The Celtics inability to contest without fouling has kept teams in games all season, and it bit them in this quarter. 

At the 8:32 mark of the third quarter, the Celtics would take their largest lead of the game at 87-64. A few more baskets would have likely put the game out of reach, but the Celtics got lazy, taking bad shots and letting the Raptors get whatever they wanted in the paint and on the fast break. 

A big lead quickly turned into a close game, with the Raptors closing the quarter on a 27-10 run to cut the lead to 97-91 heading into the fourth. 

Toronto would continue their surge, taking a 102-99 lead at the 8:14 mark of the fourth quarter. A 38-12 run over the span of a quarter gave the Raptors all the momentum. It seemed a collapse was imminent, but the Celtics experience would show up, quickly retaking control of the game with an 8-0 run. 

Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, and Payton Pritchard would make every basket for the Celtics the rest of the game, pushing the lead back up to 10 and never relinquishing to win a late-game scare 121-113, improving to 15-9 and the third seed in the Eastern Conference. 

The good

The offense was dominant in the first half, scoring 77 points on 56% from the field and 44% from three. The ball was moving, and the Celtics were getting easy points in transition as well as offensive rebounding. 

After a rough offensive stretch, they regained their early groove, scoring 18 points in just over 6 minutes in the fourth quarter to close out the game after being on the brink of disaster.

The big three of Pritchard, White, and Brown would be the keys to the game, especially in the second half, scoring 35 of the Celtics 44 points. 

Neemias Queta and Jaylen Brown were both menaces on the glass, combining for 10 offensive rebounds. The same can be said for Derrick White and Jordan Walsh on defense. Walsh would grab three steals, and White would block three shots. 

The bad

By far the biggest problem in this game was blowing the 23-point lead. On both ends of the floor, the Raptors dominated, going on a 38-12 run over the span of 12:20. 

The offense became stale and turned into isolation heavy offense with late shot clock threes, while the defense was giving up everything inside the paint. 

Fouling was the biggest reason the Raptors were able to stay in the game in the first half. The Celtics had completely outplayed Toronto, but committed 13 fouls, which led to 15 free throw attempts for the Raptors, keeping them within striking distance when the Celtics offense was rolling. 

Conclusion

Despite the scare, this was still a big win against a top team in the conference. The Celtics have climbed all the way up to the third seed in the East and have now won 5 games in a row in the middle of the toughest part of their schedule. They will get 3 days of rest before heading to Milwaukee to face a struggling Bucks team without Giannis Antetokounmpo. 


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