Week 1 Featured Game: Raptors Fall to Celtics in Season Opener 100 (1-0) vs 96 (0-1)
Bos: 16|25|28|21|10
Tor: 26|16|28|20|6
It was a battle of the big men for the Raptors-Celtics season opener, but Canadian kid Kelly Olynyk got the last laugh over Jonas Valanciunas.2013/10/30
The crowd at the Air Canada Centre roared to life minutes before the Toronto Raptors' season opener against the Boston Celtics, only to have the life sucked out of it in the waning moments of the game.
The Raptors got off on the right foot by feeding off the energy of their crowd, going on a quick 26-16 opening barrage to start the game. The Raptors played mostly zone throughout the quarter, severely limiting the effectiveness of the Celtic's backcourt of Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley. Rondo, the Celtic's main offensive weapon was hounded throughout the game, limited to 5 for 21 shooting but still almost managed a triple double with a 14-8-13 statline. Combine that with the fact that DeMar DeRozan scored 8 of his 23 points in the first quarter and the Raptors looked well on their way to a victory.
"It was our game plan throughout the game to send multiple help defenders at him so that he couldn't get into the paint," said Raptors coach Dwane Casey. "We did a good job of stopping their main weapon, but we failed to limit their second and third options."
Unfortunately, things got ugly for Toronto. The Raptors lost starters Kyle Lowry and Jonas Valanciunas to early foul trouble in the second quarter. Lowry played a big part in setting up both the offence and defence, so naturally the Raptors' offence crumbled. Valanciunas also was the Raptors leading rebounder for the game (14 rebounds), and the Celtics managed to get multiple second chance points from their frontcourt of Brandon Bass and Kelly Olynyk when he was on the bench.
Speaking of Olynyk, the Celtics rookie centre viewed the game as a homecoming of sorts, as that BC native returned to his home country of Canada for the first time as an NBA player. He did not fail to impress, finishing with 17 points and 7 rebounds. "We got great minutes from Kelly tonight," said Celtics forward Jeff Green. "He was agressive and got their big men into early foul trouble which was huge. They don't have a lot of big bodies off the bench that could bang down low with us." When asked if Olynyk was extra motivated to play his first NBA game in Canada, Green could only reply with a smile. "Oh yeah, you could tell that he wanted this one bad."
From halftime onwards, the game was a neck in neck battle, as both teams traded leads throughout the third and fourth quarter. The Raptors managed to claw to a 6 point lead with 2:50 left in the fourth quarter. Timely three point shooting from both Green and reserve guard Courtney Lee quickly erased the deficit and the game would go into overtime. Green would score 6 of the Celtics' 10 points in the extra session to put the Raptors away for good.
The Raptors struggled with their offence late, as star player Rudy Gay struggled offensively throughout the game. The 6'9 wing managed only 13 points on 21 shots. "Every time I went up in the paint there would be 2/3 guys hacking me," complained Gay. "The refs were calling it loose today, but I think it was kind of ridiculous some of things they got away with."
KEY PERFORMERS:Celtics:J. Green: 18 pts, 9 rebs, 3stls, 8-13 FG, 2-3 3pt
***(PLAYER OF THE GAME)***K. Olynyk: 17 pts, 7 rebs, 5-11 FG, 7-8 FT. 1 stls
R. Rondo: 14 pts, 8 rebs, 13 asts, 5-21 FG, 2 stls
B. Bass: 12 pts, 8 rebs, 1 ast, 6-9 FG, 1 to
G. Wallace: 11 pts, 4 rebs, 1 blk, 4-8 FG, 3-4 FT
Raptors:D. DeRozan: 23 pts, 7 rebs, 10-21 FG, 1 blk, 1 stl
K. Lowry: 14 pts, 1 rebs, 6 asts, 3 stls, 6-12 FG
J. Valanciunas: 15 pts, 14 rebs, 4 asts, 6-13 FG, 5 fouls
A. Johnson: 11 pts, 9 rebs, 3 asts, 4-6 FG, 3-4 FT