Matt Tierney - Raptors.com
Toronto (48-21) tips off a three-game road trip tonight against the Celtics (41-30) at TD Garden. Since losing in TO on March 18th, Boston has put together back-to-back victories over Philadelphia and Orlando. The Raptors will be trying to win five straight for the third time this season with a victory tonight.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Isaiah Thomas – After putting up 20 points, three rebounds and three assists when these two teams played last week, Thomas still remains the Celtics main threat opposing teams plan their defences around. The 27-year old has been red hot of late and is averaging 27 points over his last 10 contests. With starting forward Jae Crowder still nursing an ankle injury, expect Thomas to continue to carry the brunt of the load for Boston.
Terrence Ross</strong – The Raptors shooting guard has had some up-and-down games this season, but seems to always come alive when facing the Celtics. In three matchups vs. Boston, the 25-year old is averaging 15 points per game on 55% shooting. If Patrick Patterson is unable to go tonight, Ross should see the bulk of the touches for Toronto’s reserves.
NEXT MAN UP
Never has one of Dwane Casey’s favourite sayings rung truer.
With Toronto currently 1.5 games back of Cleveland for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, Casey is having to deal with various injuries plaguing his rotations.
Entering this season, free-agent DeMarre Carroll was brought on board with the mindset of him being able to guard the opposing team’s best players and therefore taking much of the burden off of All-Stars Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.
Unfortunately Raptors fans have only seen glimpses of what Carroll can bring to the table with the 29-year old managing to play only 23 games in an injury-plagued first season in T.O.
Pile on Jonas Valanciunas’ long-term injury earlier in the campaign, yet the Raptors have still managed to play at a high level. Much of the credit should go to Casey and his staff for finding ways to continue to churn out victories in a competitive Eastern Conference.
Toronto is entering a tough stretch of games with Patrick Patterson, James Johnson and Valanciunas banged up, but fans should know by now that this group of players have learned to buy into a system in which everyone is ready to step up when their number is called.
Ahead of their roadtrip, some good news came from Casey’s mouth after yesterday’s practice. “We anticipate having all bodies on deck.”