Boston Celtics fend off a late surge to squeak out a 76-75 win over Toronto Raptors - NBA Recap
Boston Celtics tipped off their preseason north of the border, in a game against the home team Toronto Raptors, who were playing their first game under head coach Dwane Casey.
In what was cracker jack of a game, the C’s were leading comfortably heading into the final frame, before the Raps turned on the heat and with just seconds to go, they had an 75-74 advantage. Boston badly needed some help at this
point and they found it from the unlikeliest of the sources. D-league acquisition Greg Stiemsma made good on his one off opportunity and drilled one from inside the paint with 12 seconds remaining to help his team regain a point advantage.
The Raps still had a chance to win it on the final possession, but the nerves got the better of them and ball after touching the rim on two occasions refused to go in.
Not the ending, the home crowds coveted, but still it was an exciting game.
Ray Allen led Celtics with 12 points, including 2 for 3 from the downtown and 2 for 2 from the charity stripe, while Marquis Daniels had 11 points. Rajon Rondo dished out a game high 8 assists and accumulated 5 points while PF
Kevin Garnett also chipped in with 9.
Andrea Bargnani marshalled the Raptors with a game high 16 points and 9 rebounds while DeMar DeRozan drained 14. Ed Davis and Jerryd Bayless both finished with 10 points each.
Bargnani started the proceedings with a jump shot on a dish by Jose Calderon and Johnson followed with a powerful jam to make it 4-0 for Raptors. Daniels finally opened the scoring for Celtics in the second minute with a free throw
and Garnett slipped in a layup to make it 3-4.
Both teams preferred long range shooting in the proceeding minute and drilled a three each to make it 7-6. Boston fired back with a 10-3 spurt in the next few minutes and got ahead 16-10, however they failed to find baskets regularly
in the last few minutes which allowed Raptors the end the quarter at 17-18.
After staying neck to neck in the early period of second frame, Boston changed gears and initiated a 13-1 spurt to land themselves into a commanding position at 36-24. In the last few minutes of the period though, the Raptors showed
some urgency but only managed to shave off the deficit to 33-40. Boston dominated the third frame as well and by the end of it, they had succeeded in mounting their lead to 10 points 51-41.
The Celts were in the driving seat midway through the deciding frame, ahead by 66-53, but the Raptors made one final push by reeling off an 11-3 run. The Celtics went completely cold while the Raps kept on splitting the defences
of the Celtics to get ahead 75-74 with less than a minute remaining.
What followed was a contest of nerves, in which the Greens ultimately prevailed.
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