TORONTO - We welcome those of you who have been watching the Patriots [team stats]’ season . . .
Here yesterday afternoon, in the final minute of the Celtics [team stats]’ 114-107 victory over the Raptors, Doc Rivers turned to a reporter and asked, “Patriots winning?”
The coach was stunned at the reply, but the point was clear: In the midst of a stretch that will see them play six games in nine days, the Celts had moved on.
And they took this one in a rather Raven-ous way.
Rajon Rondo [stats] had a triple-double and Rasheed Wallace was able to get his long-distance calls answered, but the overall key was the way the Celtics began the 1 p.m. affair. Just as Baltimore threw 24 points at the Pats in the opening quarter, the C’s ripped the Raptors for the game’s first 10 points.
Rondo fed Wallace (season-high 29 points) and Kendrick Perkins [stats] for layups, then found Ray Allen and Paul Pierce [stats] for treys to acquire four assists in the first 92 seconds.
“The first two to the rim, I drew (Chris) Bosh, and Rasheed and Perk just ducked in,” said Rondo, who finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists. “I just gave them open looks.”
Prior to the game, Rivers took note of his players speaking with raspy voices and cracked, “I think that’s the 1 o’clock start more than anything. What the hell’s wrong with these Canadians? What the hell’s wrong with you guys? Don’t you sleep on Sunday?”
But with the Raptors playing 10 home games with tipoffs between noon and 1 p.m. this season, the Celts clearly wanted to take them out of their comfort zone.
“They’re the younger team,” Wallace said. “It was an early game for us, but we knew that we had to come out focused because we knew they were going to try to run it up in the first five or six minutes of the game. We just came out stronger.”
Toronto did close the gap to two in the opening frame and trailed just 29-26 at its end, but the Celts had made their points. They shot 60 percent in the second quarter and led 59-50 at the half, and it seemed their ball movement was already there to produce open shots when needed.
The C’s ended up launching 26 treys for the game, hitting 11, but Rivers thought these were better attempts than usual. Rondo set the tone when he directed the two layups before going outside.
“We felt in the last couple of games that we’re driving and throwing the ball out of the paint,” Rivers said. “We showed on film that we needed to drive and keep the ball in the paint. Then we got the 3 after that. And that’s our premise: If you get some inside, all of a sudden everybody shrinks and you get the 3’s. I thought us starting down low with drives and posts led to the Rasheed 3’s, the Ray 3’s and the Eddie (House) 3’s.”
The Celtics led by 14 after a Rondo hook with 5:42 left in the game, but Bosh (31 points) hit a jumper to complete a 14-4 reply and make it a four-point game with 1:46 left.
Then Perkins, who had missed a pair of free throws a minute earlier, rebounded a Wallace miss, was fouled and hit both shots. When Wallace stole the ball from Andrea Bargnani and Pierce hit a 20-footer, the game was essentially over and Rivers was looking for a football score.
The Raptors have won eight of their last 10 games, but both losses came to the Celtics.
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