NBA Preseason – Boston Celtics defeat the Toronto Raptors 91-87
The Boston Celtics carried their winning form in the NBA preseason as they defeated the Toronto Raptors this Sunday. The match took place at the TD Garden in Boston with around 20,000 fans showing up to watch the game. The game showed that despite the critics
saying that the Boston Celtics are old and not in the running for the title, there is a lot of competition for a place in the team. The can be seen as Nate Robinson came off the bench to score a key three-pointer that put the Boston Celtics in the lead and
eventually won them the match.
1st Quarter
The first points of the match came for the Boston Celtics when they scored through Kevin Garnett. All 5 players in the starting line up dominated the proceedings from the start as their intentions were pretty much clear that they were here to win.
Shaquille O’Neal, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce were all among the scorers during the quarter. Kevin Garnett was the top scorer, as he bagged 6 points and took the total score of Boston Celtics to 21 at the end. For the Toronto Raptors it was Demar DeRozan who
scored most of the most bagging 6 points out of the 16 points of the Raptors. The quarter ended with the score on 21-16 for the Boston Celtics.
2nd Quarter
When the 2nd quarter began, the Toronto Raptors scored the first points but the Boston Celtics responded in a good manner.
The quarter was a hard fought and interesting one in which there were ups and downs for both teams in defence as well as offence. With starting players on the bench the points came from players like Delonte West, Nate Robinson and Rajon Rondo.
One the other hand, the Toronto Raptors points came from Jarrett Jack who scored frequently. The other scorer was Sonny Weems who managed to score 11 points as the quarter ended. The quarter ended with the score on 46-39 in favour of the Boston Celtics.
During the course of the quarter, the Boston Celtics scored 25 points and the Toronto Raptors scored 23 points.
3rd Quarter
As the 3rd quarter started, Paul Pierce bagged in 2 points to take his personal score to 6 points. Shaq also got on the scoring sheet as he scored from the free throw line ending his night with a total of 11 points.
All the players combined very well for the Boston Celtics to show that they excelled in every department on court compared to the Toronto Raptors. But as the quarter was nearing its end, the Boston Celtics defence started to open and the Toronto Raptors
scored massive points during that time. Leandro Barbosa was the player who punished the Boston Celtics the most scoring 9 points in the quarter.
With the end of the quarter the statistics showed that the Boston Celtics scored 22 points, whereas, the Toronto Raptors scored 26 points. The score with just one quarter remaining was 68-65 in favour of the Boston Celtics.
4th Quarter
The 4th quarter proved to be the most exciting in terms of turnovers and steals. This was due to the fact that the score was very close and terms were trying to win the match. Sometimes the shaky nerves or a little mistake at a crucial stage meant
that the ball was taken by the opposition.
Both teams played very cautiously and tried their best not to make mistakes; however, playing errors were seen occasionally. At the end of the quarter, the score was 91-87 in favour of the Boston Celtics as they won the match and kept the 100% winning record
intact.
During the final quarter, the Boston Celtics scored 23 points and the Toronto Raptors scored 22 points.
"It was nice,'' Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "I don't know if that was exactly our second unit. I thought it was nice they put in some of their guys.''
"I don't think we're playing the game right now the way we're supposed to play it,'' Raptors coach Jay Triano said. "I'm just trying to get minutes and get these guys legs under them and get them playing defence the way we want to play it.''
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