With the Celtics making a charge to grab the #1 seed, the Raptors needed a statement win. While Toronto’s scoring continued spotty, the defense was fierce all night.
The Toronto Raptors were in serious danger of losing their grip on the Eastern Conference’s best record. Should the Boston Celtics cool out Toronto’s scoring, as they did in Q4 a week ago, the result would be disastrous.
The signs were negative after the first 12 minutes, as the Raptors could only muster 14 points. While they were defending well enough to keep the visitors in check, their shooting continued its downward trend.

Happily, the second quarter saw a speedy reversal of fortune. The Raptors bench bunch struggled to score early, yet weren’t giving the shorthanded Celtics any room. Our guys got rolling, wiped out the Boston lead, and didn’t stop. Until a late 4-point flurry, the Celtics were in serious danger of being held to a single digit for the Q. Toronto’s lead was 10 at the half.
Defense never faltered
The third quarter was sluggish again, but the Raptors found enough diversified scoring to build the margin to 14. Unlike too many other recent outings, the final 12 minutes was devoid of drama. Fred VanVleet drained a couple of timely long balls to let the air out of Boston’s tires, and they never got closer than a dozen. Their 77 points was the fewest they have scored this season.
Delon Wright has been shaky in his past few games, but turned that around in a hurry. While the team’s scoring was led by DeMar DeRozan’s modest 16 points, this was Delon’s best night in ages. He led the team in assists with 8, which is pleasant though not surprising for a point guard. And there’s more – he grabbed 9 rebounds, also best, made a pair of impressive steals, and chipped in eight points.
Lucas Nogueira shook off the rust of being seldom called upon, and delivered an excellent 17+ minutes. Bebe made his own pair of steals, and jammed down three emphatic baskets on sweet passes.
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The news was not nearly so positive for a couple of struggling Raptors, Norman Powell and C.J. Miles. They combined to attempt nine 3-balls, with C.J. making the only one. Norm committed a cardinal sin, namely leaving his feet with no idea of what to do with the ball, and his resulting turnover was too much for even patient coach Dwane Casey. Our head man wasn’t happy with Jonas Valanciunas either, and limited him to 13+ minutes.
Overall…
However, Casey had to be happy with his team’s defensive effort. Boston was 3 of 22 from deep, and not many of those attempts were clean looks. All 12 Raptors who dressed saw the floor and grabbed at least one rebound. Only Powell failed to score.
DeRozan’s mid-range has withered recently, and his 3-point shooting has been worse. At least his deep attempts worked out; he missed only one of four. However, 3 of 13 from inside the arc isn’t acceptable.
Enough of the disappointments. The Raptors took control of this critical game, and never let it go. Toronto controls its destiny at this point. All the Raps need is 2 wins in their final 4 games, and the top seed is theirs.