BOSTON — The Celtics closed the door on 2024 on a excessive notice.
Head coach Joe Mazzulla welcomed Jrue Vacation again to the beginning lineup, serving to reassemble Boston’s go-to unit. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown mixed to attain 35 factors — by three quarters — and the protection demonstrated the urgency wanted for the Celtics to outlast the Toronto Raptors earlier than the New 12 months’s fireworks pop off.
Listed here are three studs and three duds from Boston’s 125-71 win over Toronto on Tuesday:
STUDS
Jrue Vacation
Vacation’s return was a difference-maker for the Celtics.
Boston gained a vital spark in Vacation’s protection and outdoors capturing. The 34-year-old scored 14 factors on 5-of-8 capturing from the sector, pulling down 4 3-pointers and tallying a game-high three steals to re-establish the deadly defensive tandem with Derrick White — who recorded 4 blocks and a steal.
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Mazzulla sat Vacation and the remainder of Boston’s starters for the whole lot of the fourth quarter.
Payton Pritchard
Boston’s reserve unit chief answered the decision as soon as the Celtics had been in dire want of a first-half increase.
Pritchard tallied all 12 factors from Boston’s bench by halftime, pulling down 4 3-pointers to uplift the offense. The undersized sharpshooter gave the Celtics 19 factors when the mud settled, with six rebounds, 4 assists and three steals, registering a formidable plus-36 ranking.
Scottie Barnes
Barnes was the lone glimmer of hope to come back from Toronto’s finish.
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The 23-year-old notched a double-double by scoring 16 factors with 13 rebounds, two assists and two steals. Barnes struggled mightily to get going from past the arc, capturing an ineffective 1-of-8 from three, however remained concerned on each ends of the ground all through the competition.
DUDS
Boston and Toronto’s ice-cold first-quarter
The Celtics took their candy time getting on the scoreboard, capturing 2-for-12 from the ground and 1-for-8 from three by the primary six minutes of the sport. It took the crew capturing 0-for-8 earlier than Jaylen Brown ended the scoreless stoop and acquired the C’s on the board, producing a considerably sarcastic applause from the TD Backyard crowd.
Boston ended the body with a 23-12 lead over Toronto after the Raptors shot 5-of-23 and went 0-for-12 from three. It wouldn’t be a attain to label that probably the most unwatchable quarter by the Celtics amid the NBA’s ratings-challenged season.
Kelly Olynyk
Olynyk, a former Celtic, didn’t present a lot coming off the bench for the Raptors.
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The 12-year veteran struggled to get going, ending with simply 5 factors on 2-of-5 capturing and one rebound in eight minutes. Olynyk’s 6-foot-11 body and status for pulling down threes at a serviceable price did nothing for Toronto; as a substitute, the 33-year-old carried out like a two-way legal responsibility.
Davion Mitchell
The final time Mitchell stepped foot in Boston, the 26-year-old rubbed the reigning NBA Finals MVP, Brown, the mistaken approach.
Mitchell aggressively bumped Brown throughout a fourth-quarter play throughout Boston’s matchup with Toronto on Nov. 16. Brown expressed his frustrations with Mitchell and the officiating and because the Raptors guard returned for a rematch, he had nothing for Brown or the Celtics. Mitchell scored 9 factors on 4 pictures, logging a minus-18 ranking.
