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TORONTO – For one quarter, anyway, the Celtics regained their mojo on Friday night.
Trailing the Toronto Raptors at halftime, 55-41, and at one point down by 20, the Celtics regrouped in the third quarter. They whittled the Raptors’ lead down to just five points on two occasions in the third quarter. The second time was when R.J. Hunter drained a corner 3 just before the buzzer at the end of the quarter.
It appeared we had a game on our hands, and that the Celtics were rejuvenated.
Trailing 79-74 heading to the fourth, the Celtics were back to playing their brand of basketball, and back in business with a chance to win a game that looked out of reach for much of the second quarter.
But the scrapy defense, connected team play and opportunistic transition offense evaporated in the fourth quarter. One strong period of Celtics Basketball ™ was all they could muster North of the Border, and the result was a 105-91 loss that stifled any hope of getting things back on track against an Atlantic Division rival.
“There were some spurts where we did play Celtics Basketball,” Amir Johnson said after his six points and six rebounds. “We’ve just got to get back to the little things, and play together and help each other.”
“If we keep playing like we did in that third quarter, I think we’ll be fine,” Johnson said.
Unfortunately, one quarter is not good enough against the now 47-21 Raptors, or most any NBA team for that matter. But in the midst of a four-game losing streak, and their second consecutive blowout loss, the 39-30 Celtics are looking for something to believe in, and to revive the pulse of the team that a week ago was 13 games over .500.
“I thought we played the best in the third quarter that we’ve played in two weeks so that’s good,” Celtics Coach Brad Stevens said as he searched for some uplifting things to say about his team. “(But) we have to sustain it for a longer period than one quarter.”
Isaiah Thomas (20 points) was a force in the third, penetrating to either create his own ridiculous layup at the rim, or driving and dishing to find his teammates. Thomas had 12 points and a pair of assists in the period, playing all 12 minutes as the C’s chipped away at Toronto’s lead.
But Kyle Lowry dropped 15 of his 32 points in the fourth, and the comeback was snuffed out.
“We can’t blame it on the refs, we can’t blame it on each other. We just have to all look in the mirror and figure out what we need to do to help this team,” Avery Bradley said after his 4-for-13 shooting night. “I need to make shots, I need to play better defense.”
Bradley talked at length about the things he and his teammates can do to improve. And sure, Jae Crowder is conspicuous by his injury-induced absence. Kelly Olynyk is still trying to recapture his shooting stroke following a shoulder problem. Bradley and Marcus Smart are struggling with their shots as well. But the Celtics’ defense, which was once the team’s calling card, has gone AWOL over the last two games.
There’s no shortage of problems to fix, and with that in mind, the Celtics will practice in Philadelphia Saturday in search of answers, as well as a slide-snapping win on Sunday.