Gameday Preview: Celtics Take on Struggling Raptors Squad in Tampa
Winslow Townson | USA TODAY Sports
Following a scrappy win against Detroit, the Celtics will face the Raptors tonight in Tampa on night two of a back-to-back. This
Despite winning their last contest, the Celtics have been playing some pretty questionable basketball over the past couple of games. They just finished up a mini-series versus Detroit and ended up splitting it 1-1. Most people pegged it as two free wins for Boston, but a severe lack of defense and a lot of turnovers led to the loss in game one and a victory in game two that was a little too close for comfort. In the first of the two games Boston played their worst basketball of the season in the first quarter, meanwhile, in game two the fact of the matter was that neither team was playing much defense at all.
The one consistent positive through all the ups and downs, however, has been Jaylen Brown. Brown is currently averaging 28 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.7 steals on 59.8% shooting from the field and 42.% shooting from deep. With the absence of Kemba Walker, most knew he would see an increase in scoring, but the dude has been flat-out dominant thus far. Jayson Tatum has been solid as well despite a sloppy first few games of the season. The Celtics’ offense looked just fine in their last game, the real issue at hand has been their play on the defensive end.
Luckily for Boston, the Raptors have also been struggling to start the season. Toronto, or should I say Tampa, is 1-4 at the moment with Pascal Siakam really having troubles getting things going. Siakam has fouled out of two games so far this season and was also benched in a game recently for “disciplinary measures” after he left the court too early after fouling out. Fred VanVleet has been the team’s leading scorer (19.2) with Kyle Lowry right behind him (18.8). One of the biggest problems for Toronto this season has simply been a lack of scoring. They rank bottom four in the league in points per game (104.4), with only the Heat, Thunder, and Knicks ranked below them.
The biggest change for the Raptors this offseason was by far the loss of both their big men. Both Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol left Toronto to go to LA to play for the Clippers and Lakers, respectfully, and it left Toronto in a scramble to try and replace them on the fly. They had Chris Boucher already rostered and did manage to sign Aron Baynes and Alex Len, but the center rotation just isn’t the same as last season. A team that was once one of the deepest in the NBA with few holes on the roster now has a pretty big hole at the center position.
Boston is going to have to really exploit Toronto’s lack of a big man. Baynes is no joke, but after that, both Boucher and Len have super thin frames that the C’s could look to take advantage of. It’ll be up to Daniel Theis, Tristan Thompson, and Robert Williams III to make that happen. Outside of that, it’s all going to boil down to how well the Celtics play on the defensive end. They’ve struggled to get stops all season long, and while they are playing one of the lowest-scoring offenses in the league, they’re still going to have to come to play on that end. The last time the C’s played Toronto things got intense, so let’s hope for some of that same intensity tonight!
Make sure to tune-in to our live pregame show, the Banner Town Buildup, tonight at 7:00 PM EST on the @GuyBostonSports Twitter account. We’re live there 30 minutes before every game so come hangout! The Celtics tips-off against the Raptors at 7:30 PM EST on NBC Sports Boston.
