Celtics-Raptors Preview

By ALAN FERGUSON
Posted Feb 10 2012 12:39AM

The Boston Celtics have responded strongly to their recent losses. A matchup with the Toronto Raptors could help them continue that trend.

After having their longest winning streak of the season snapped, the Celtics will try to add to their dominance of the struggling Raptors on Friday night at Air Canada Centre.

Boston (14-11) won four in a row following a 79-71 loss to Phoenix on Jan. 20, then posted a season-high five straight victories after an 88-87 defeat against Cleveland on Jan. 29.

The Celtics had a chance to extend that run to six Thursday, but fell 88-87 in overtime to the visiting Los Angeles Lakers after missing their final four shots in the extra session.

"I thought this was an awful game," coach Doc Rivers said after his club shot 39.2 percent. "If we had won, it would have been an awful game that we won. Give them credit: A lot of that was defense. But I thought a lot of it was self-inflicted."

With 22 points, Ray Allen topped 20 for only the second time in his last 14 games for Boston. He's scored a total of 18 in the first two games of the season series with Toronto, but the Celtics haven't needed him to do any more as they've prevailed by a combined 59 points.

The most recent of those wins was a 100-64 rout at TD Garden on Feb. 1 that was the Raptors' most lopsided defeat thus far in 2011-12.

"They've been beating us since the preseason so it's getting old. They're not just beating us but beating us bad. It's time for us to buckle down," Toronto forward James Johnson said. "We definitely need to come out flying and treat this game like it's Game 7. We can't go out like we've been going out against Boston."

Toronto, which has dropped 17 of its last 19 meetings with the Celtics, doesn't appear poised to end those struggles. The Raptors (8-19) have lost three in row and five of six overall. They've also lost five of their last six at Air Canada Centre, while Boston has won a season-high three straight on the road.

Toronto led by a point with seven minutes remaining Wednesday against visiting Milwaukee but allowed the Bucks to take command with a 12-2 run en route to a 105-99 defeat. DeMar DeRozan scored 25 points for the second time in three games for the Raptors.

Starting guard Jerryd Bayless left Wednesday's game in the third quarter with a sore left ankle and did not return. His status is unknown for this contest.

Bayless had a team-best 14 points for the Raptors in last week's loss at Boston while Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 17. The Celtics' lone All-Star scored 30 the last time the Celtics visited Toronto, a 93-79 win Jan. 2, 2011.

Point guard Rajon Rondo sat out last week's rout of the Raptors due to a right wrist injury. He had his best scoring effort in four games since returning Thursday with 14 points on 7-of-13 shooting.

DeRozan scores 21 as Raptors shock Celtics

Posted Feb 10 2012 11:22PM

TORONTO (AP) Celtics coach Doc Rivers called his team's play "awful" after Thursday's overtime loss to the Lakers. Friday's loss at Toronto kept his mood dismal.

DeMar DeRozan scored 21 points, Jose Calderon had 17 points and 14 rebounds and the Raptors led wire-to-wire in beating Boston 86-74, just their third win in the past 20 meetings with the Celtics.

"I was really frustrated with our execution," Rivers said. "We couldn't even run a play out of a timeout. That's just frustrating. That's focus or something. We have to fix that, because we've been playing too well for this to go back down that road again.

"We'd kind of worked out all our kinks and then, all of a sudden the last couple of games, it's returned out of nowhere."

Rivers, who lambasted his players during one first quarter timeout, huddled with his staff outside the locker room for several minutes after the game.

Asked whether Sunday's home game against league-leading Chicago could be the tonic to get his team back on track, Rivers didn't think so.

"The way we played the last two games, we need to be in a gym running," Rivers said.

The Celtics scored 75 or fewer points for just the third time in franchise history and the first time since Jan. 12, 2001, when they had 72.

Amir Johnson had 12 points and 12 rebounds and Aaron Gray matched a season high with 11 rebounds as the Raptors avenged a 100-64 loss at Boston on Feb. 1, their worst defeat of the season. James Johnson scored 14 for Toronto.

"We knew they had a back-to-back with the Lakers," Amir Johnson said. "Our strategy was just to come in and hit them in the mouth."

The Raptors, who snapped a three-game losing streak, had lost five of six coming in. They were treated to a rare standing ovation from the crowd of 19,207 in the final minute.

"I don't even remember the last time we beat Boston," Calderon said. "They're always beating on us."

Kevin Garnett scored 17 points, Paul Pierce had 12 and Brandon Bass had 10 for the Celtics, who were without center Jermaine O'Neal because he had a sore left shoulder.

Ray Allen scored just six points and Rajon Rondo had only five. The pair combined to shoot 5-for-18.

"You can't take anything positive away from this game," Rondo said. "You've just got to move on."

The Celtics, who had won nine of ten before Thursday's defeat, dropped back-to-back games for the first time since a five-game skid from Jan. 6-16.

"We just didn't show the mental toughness tonight," Pierce said. "We feel like we're getting so close to being the team we want to be and the to take a couple of steps back is definitely frustrating. These are games we're supposed to win."

Trailing 63-51, to begin the fourth, the Celtics were unable to mount a serious comeback. Allen's jumper cut it to 77-69 with 3:35 left, but Linas Kleiza answered with a 3-pointer. And after Garnett made one of two from the line to trim the deficit to 81-72 with two minutes left, Calderon hit a step-back 3 to push the lead back to 12.

"By the time the fourth quarter came they made shots and we couldn't stop them," Allen said.

Toronto started strong, using a pair of running dunks by James Johnson and Calderon's alley-oop pass to DeRozan to open an 18-7 lead with 4:30 left in the opening quarter. DeRozan had nine points in the first, Calderon and Johnson had eight each as Toronto led 26-14 after one.

Boston made six turnovers in the first, but also had Rivers fuming after failing to inbound the ball on one possession, forcing a timeout. Rivers yelled angrily at his team in the huddle before stomping back to the bench to let the players sort themselves out.

"In a way, (Thursday) night's loss kind of lingered on to this loss today," Rondo said. "It's a different story if we won."

The Celtics closed the gap in the second, when Toronto made just four of 15 field goal attempts, but still trailed 41-34 at the break. Allen and Rondo combined for only two points in the first half, missing seven of eight shots.

The Raptors pulled away again in the third with DeRozan feeding Amir Johnson for an alley-oop to make it 61-45 with 3:52 left, matching their biggest lead of the game. Boston trailed 63-51 heading into the fourth.

NOTES: DeRozan has scored 20 or more in three of his past four games. ... The loss snapped Boston's season-high three-game road winning streak. ... Celtics G Avery Bradley (right shoulder) and F Sasha Pavlovic (left wrist) sat out for the second straight game. ... The Raptors are 7-2 this season when leading at the half. ... Toronto G Jerryd Bayless was unavailable after leaving Wednesday's loss to Milwaukee with a sore left ankle.

Notebook: Raptors 86, Celtics 74

Posted Friday February 10, 2012 10:55PM

Duane Watson, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: The Toronto Raptors (9-19) defeated the Boston Celtics (14-12) 86-74 at the Air Canada Centre on Friday night. The Raptors never trailed and led by as many as 16 and snapped a 3 game losing streak. Jose Calderon made a key 3 point shot with 1:37 left in the game to secure the Raptors lead for good, netting him 17 points to go along with 14 assists.

Boston played their second of a back-to-back, losing last night at home in overtime to the Los Angeles Lakers 88-87 and it showed. The Raptors started the game with an impressive 26-14 first quarter and never looked back. Despite the Celtics bringing it to 41-34 at halftime they had already committed 13 turnovers on 39.4 percent shooting.

The Raptors DeMar DeRozan had a game high 21 points, while James Johnson contributed 14 points and Amir Johnson had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. For Boston, Kevin Garnett led the Celtics with 17 points and 8 rebounds while Paul Pierce added 12.

The Raptors sorely needed this win for various reasons, notably, the last time these two teams met in Boston when they were thrashed 100-64. The win gives them their fourth home victory of the season and is the second game of a 7 game home stand.

QUOTABLE: "I thought the guys took it to heart, they had pride, they remembered how they spanked us down in Boston and bounced back from it. The resilience they showed was impressive."
-- Raptors head coach Dwane Casey

THE STAT: The Raptors jumped on the Celtics fast and early, forcing them to commit 13 turnovers in the first half with Rajon Rondo committing 5 of them. Their inability to take care of the basketball made it that much more difficult to make headway in a game they were down early in.

TURNING POINT: Despite the Raptors taking a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter, the Celtics rallied to pull it to within eight points until Calderon knocked down a 3-point shot with 1:38 left to give the Raptors a 84-72 lead and keep the game out of reach.

QUOTABLE II: "We had a bad taste in our mouth, we had to get over it cause we had other tough teams on our schedule, but as soon as Boston was back on, the taste comes back. I think tonight, more people wee willing to win than to score 40."
-- Raptors forward Johnson on the last meeting with the Celtics, losing 100-64.

HOT: When it mattered Linas Kleiza arrived. In the fourth quarter the Raptors forward shot 3 for 6, all from behind the 3 point line for 9 points in the final frame. Kleiza is averaging 16.6 points per game over the last five off the bench for the Raptors. "He did his job, he does what he do," Casey said.

NOT: The Celtics may have felt the effects of going back-to-back after their overtime loss last night, starting flat with an uncharacteristic 6 turnovers in a 26-14 first quarter. 10 Celtic players checked into the game before the end of the frame and not one registered more than one field goal. Collectively Boston shot 30.8 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from the free throw line. ... Calderon had 0 turnovers in 37 minutes of play.

NOTABLE: DeMar DeRozan is averaging 21.7 points over his last 3 games. ... The Raptors snapped a five game losing streak against the Celtics. ...Celtics matched their season low for first quarter scoring with 14 points. ...Toronto won wire-to-wire for the first time since Nov. 24, 2010 vs. Philadelphia (106-90).

UP NEXT: Toronto continues its home stand Sunday vs. Lakers, Tuesday vs. New York and Wednesday vs. San Antonio. The Celtics return home on Sunday to face Chicago, Wednesday vs. Detroit and Thursday @ Chicago.

• Celtics: Dooling, Pavlovic
• Raptors: Bargnani, Bayless

• Celtics: Rondo
• Raptors: --

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 0

• Arena: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
• Officials: #12 Violet Palmer, #55 Bill Kennedy, #72 JT Orr
• Attendance: 19207
• Duration: 2:17