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Watch It! – Raptors at Celtics

Marc D'Amico
Team Reporter and Analyst

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Here are five things to watch out for when the Boston Celtics and the Toronto Raptors meet at 7:30 p.m. tonight at TD Garden.

Another Night Without IT

Isaiah Thomas missed his first game of the season Wednesday night due to a strained right groin. Tonight, he’ll miss game No. 2.

Boston survived just fine without its leading scorer in Orlando, as it logged an impressive 117-87 victory over the Magic. All five of the team’s starters scored in double-figures, including 23 points from Avery Bradley. Meanwhile, Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown combined to score 29 points off the bench.

That victory was a prime example of players stepping up in the absence of an All-Star. Marcus Smart slid into the starting lineup and played very well, and every other player who saw floor time picked up some slack. The C’s will need a similar team effort tonight against a very talented Toronto team.

No. 2 Challengers

Heading into this season, many pundits viewed Boston and Toronto as the top two contenders for the No. 2 seed in the East behind the defending-champion Cleveland Cavaliers. Those pundits haven’t been far off in their prediction.

Toronto enters tonight’s game ranked second in the Eastern Conference with a 15-7 record, one game behind the Cavs. Boston, meanwhile, is tied for the third seed with Charlotte with a 13-9 record, three games behind the Cavs.

With more than a quarter of the season in the books, this is shaping up to be a tight Eastern Conference race. Every win matters, particularly against the teams you’re challenging for seeding in the conference. Boston would be doing itself a big favor if it grabs a win tonight during its first matchup of the season against Toronto.

The DeRozan Effect

Doc Rivers always used to rave about DeMar DeRozan, because DeRozan came back as a better player each and every year of his career. This season is no exception.

DeRozan is having a career year in 2016-17 and enters tonight’s game as the leading scorer in the Eastern Conference with an average of 28.0 points per game. His scoring increase is due to two major improvements: shooting efficiency and an increased free-throw rate.

Toronto’s All-Star guard is shooting an impressive 47.6 percent from the field this season despite the fact that he’s taking an average of nearly 21 shots per game. DeRozan hadn’t shot better than 44.6 percent from the field in any of his previous five seasons. He’s also attempting a career-high average of 9.0 free throws per game while shooting 83.9 percent from the charity stripe.

An issue Boston will need to take into account tonight is that some of its top scorers, headlined by Bradley, Smart and Jae Crowder, will likely expend a ton of energy trying to contain DeRozan. That could result in their scoring numbers dropping, which means the C's will need other players to step up in that category.

A Taste of the Road

It’s not a far flight from Toronto to Boston. However, despite the relatively short distance between the two cities, tonight will still be a difficult road test for the visiting Raptors.

TD Garden is a tough place to play, and Toronto hasn’t tasted a road environment in a full two weeks. The Raptors just wrapped up a season-long, six-game homestand, during which it went 5-1, and they haven’t played on the road since Nov. 25.

Playing on the road is always difficult, but doing so against a strong team in a challenging environment after feeling nothing but home love for two straight weeks takes the level of difficulty to a whole other level.

Skilled Raptors

Cleveland enters today with the East’s best record, but Toronto could make a legitimate claim that it is the best team in the conference right now.

The Raptors not only enter today with as many wins as Cleveland, with 15, but they also have far and away the best scoring differential in the conference. Toronto has outscored opponents by 8.4 PPG this season. The Cavs rank second in the conference with a mark of 6.6 PPG, and no other team in the East is within shouting distance of those top two marks.

One of the greatest reasons for Toronto’s consistent success this season is its overall skill. Simply put, this Raptors team can put the ball through the basket.

Toronto enters tonight’s game ranked third in the league in scoring (111.5 PPG), second in the league in field goal percentage (47.8 percent), third in the league in 3-point field goal percentage (39.2 percent) and second in the league in free throw percentage (81.3 percent). DeRozan is a big part of that offensive success, but he is not solely responsible for these numbers. The rest of Toronto’s players, led by Kyle Lowry, are showcasing a high level of skill as well.