5 Who popped and 2 who flopped in nail-biting victory over the Celtics

Davion Mitchell Popped

Davion Mitchell has been starting in place of the injured Immanuel Quickley and taken full advantage of the opportunity, in particular flashing his chops as an on-ball guard capable of running the offense and hitting open teammates. He continued that strong run of play with another 10 assists against the Celtics.

Just as encouraging was the fact that Mitchell looked confident shooting the basketball, going 3-for-6 from deep, in particular relocating out to the top of the key when Barnes was driving into the paint or another action was going on elsewhere. He looks ready to play the backup point guard role when the regular season kicks off in a week.

Bruno Fernando Flopped

Jakob Poeltl played 30 minutes, which means the Raptors only needed 18 from other centers. Two games after being absolutely punked by Jonas Valanciunas, Bruno Fernando was again destroyed vs the Celtics. He did manage 6 points and 7 rebounds, but he was completely lost on defense. He committed a whopping six fouls and had four turnovers and was -13 in his 14 minutes, to the point that Darko Rajakovic put in Branden Carlson off the bench for the final minute of crunch time - and was rewarded when Carlson had the game-saving defensive play.

Fernando is fighting for the last roster spot and is on shaky ground. On the one hand, the Raptors need another big man and Fernando is a veteran big; on the other, he hasn't shown much more than the late-round rookies the Raptors have behind him. It may behoove them to sign a forward and let Carlson be the third big; his play on Tuesday night could have sealed his fate.