DeMar DeRozan fashions a second half resurgence as Toronto Raptors upset Boston Celtics - NBA Recap
On Friday night at the Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON, the Toronto Raptors, who are out of the playoff picture, played host to one of the strongest contenders from the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics.
Raptor managed to hold off the Celtics 84-79 putting an end to their four games losing streak. This loss for the Celtics, who are having an excellent second half of the season, put an end to their 4 game win streak. However, Boston
still remains three games ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers in the Atlantic Division standing, as Philadelphia also lost their matchup against the Nets.
DeMar DeRozan led the scoring for the Raptors with 22 points, 13 of which came in the third quarter. Alan Anderson contributed 12 points and Amir Johnson added 10 points. Linas Kleiza, who was injured in the last outing against
the Sixers, also had a good game coming off the bench to add 17 points and 8 rebounds.
Paul Pierce was Boston`s leading scorer on the night as he notched up 18 points. Kevin Garnett added 13 points; Avery Bradley scored 15 points and Brandon Bass tallied 10 points. Rajon Rondo scored 8 points and dished out 12 assists
making this his 20th consecutive game with double digit assists. Ray Allen was sitting out this one as well with a sore right knee.
Toronto out-rebounded Boston 50-37 on the night and despite the visitors holding an edge in the rest of stats, relied on their clutch shooting from beyond the arc to get the win. Raptors connected on 7 triples on the night.
Both teams started the game off very well and the scores remained close till the 6:30 mark when Boston, leading by 9-8, opened up a 5 point advantage and went to extend it to 7 by the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Kenyon Dooling scored 4 quick points for Boston as the lead extended to 10 points with 10:45 to go in the half.
Kleiza responded with a three pointer for the Raps, however, Boston answered back with 5 more quick points, 2 from Hollins and a three pointer from Mickael Pietrus to extend the lead to 29-17.
For the remainder of the half, Raptors tried to rally their way back and were able to chip the lead down to four with 16.1 seconds remaining. On the last possession of the half, Garnett dunked the ball on Rondo`s 8th
assist to extend the lead to 6, 36-30.
Despite struggling from the field in the first half, Raptors started the second half a completely different team. The Raps went on an 8-2 run to make the scores all square at 38-each. They further went on to add 11 more points
to their account while holding Boston to only 2 as they took the lead 49-40 with 5:18 remaining in the third. By the end of the period, the Raptors were ahead by 10 points, 57-47.
It took almost 2 minutes for the scoring to start in the final quarter of the game. Boston attempted 3 shots in that span and missed all three while the Raptors attempted 2 jump shots and committed a turnover in that time span.
Anderson started the scoring for the Raps with a three pointer at the 10:13 mark to extend the lead to 13 points. The advantage remained in double figures till the 2:35 mark. Boston then rallied back as they went on an 11-2 to cut the lead down to one with
38.8 seconds remaining till the final buzzer.
Under pressure in the closing seconds of the game, Raptors were able to hold their nerve as they made 8 free throws down the stretch, 4 from DeRozan and 4 from Kleiza while holding off the Celtics to only 4 points to take the game.
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