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Key Moment
THAT is what you call a takeover!
Kyrie Irving put on a display of brilliance during crunch time of Wednesday night’s primetime showdown with the Raptors. He took over against the best team in the league.
Irving, who’s well on his way to his sixth career All-Star game, scored or assisted on Boston’s final 25 points of the night during its 117-108 victory over Toronto. All of those points were scored during the final 5:55 of the contest, when the game was hanging in the balance.
While Boston outscored Toronto 25-14 during that time period, Irving tallied 10 points and dished out six assists. Five of those points and two of those assists were the plays that propelled the Celtics into the winner’s circle.
First, on back-to-back possessions, Irving drained a step-back jumper over Serge Ibaka and then buried a dagger 3-pointer with 1:39 remaining to give Boston a five-point advantage. After Toronto whistled for a timeout, the C’s earned consecutive stops on defense, and Irving found Al Horford twice for easy buckets in the paint.
Those four points from Horford pushed Boston ahead 115-106 with 45.7 seconds left and put the bow on an unbelievable night for Irving and the Celtics. He took over, and as a result, Boston took down the top team in the league – again.
Key Player
Here’s more on Kyrie Irving. Get used to it; this story isn’t going anywhere.
As noted in our Key Moment section, Irving scored or assisted on Boston’s final 25 points of the game, all of which were scored during the final 5:55 of the contest. He scored 10 points during that stretch and dished out six assists.
All told during his 38 minutes of action, Irving tallied 27 points and a career-best 18 assists. Those 18 helpers eclipsed his previous career high by four (14, logged Feb. 2, 2017 against Minnesota). He rounded out his box score with five rebounds, a blocked shot and a steal.
Irving’s performance is the type that can galvanize a team. It was the type of performance that brought the crowd to its feet, and the kind that will be talked about for a long, long time.
Box Score Nuggets
- Kyrie Irving led the Celtics with 27 points, and led the game with 18 assists, which set a new career high.
- Boston tallied 32 assists compared to Toronto's 20.
- Kawhi Leonard scored a game-high 33 points.
- Toronto outscored Boston in the paint (58-54), in second-chance points (12-11) and in fast break points (18-15) yet still lost by nine.
- Both teams led by at least 11 points.
- Iving's 18 assists were 11 more than the game's next-best total (seven, Kyle Lowry).
- Al Horford scored 24 points, marking his season high.
- Jayson Tatum logged a double-doubke with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
- Gordon Hayward led all reserves with 18 points and five assists.
- Boston scored at least 30 points during the first, second and fourth quarters.
- Leonard made all 11 of his game-high 11 free throws.
- During his first action in exactly a month, Aron Baynes tallied nine points, five rebounds and two assists in 14 minutes of play.
Quote of the Night
Terry Rozier on beating the top-ranked Raptors.