Celtics Collapse Defensively and Lose to Raptors in New Low

BOSTON — Joe Mazzulla commended a rough-looking Celtics win on Sunday as one marked by mistakes with effort.

If Boston moved onto Toronto and escaped its recent issues, using its strong offensive rebounding from the victory over the Pelicans as momentum into a difficult stretch over the next month, all could be forgiven. Instead, those miscues continued in a catastrophic showing north of the border. The Celtics lost, 110-97, to a Raptors team that dropped 16-of-17 prior to this week.

Toronto’s defense ranked 27th prior to Wednesday, and looked like the sturdier between their unit and Boston’s. Worse, after the Celtics’ starters fell behind 15-5, Boston faded more as the night went on.

The Raptors shot 14-for-19 in the third quarter and out-rebounded the Celtics on the offensive glass, 7-2, in the fourth to pull away from ahead by only 55-53 at halftime to a 16-point edge in the fourth that forced Mazzulla to empty his bench with two minutes left. The sights from Sunday, missed layups, timely turnovers and an inattention to the defensive side of the ball persisted. The Celtics maintained struggling lineups and rotations.

Prior to to the game, speaking to 98.5 The Sports Hub, Mazzulla continued to stress that Boston’s expected numbers on offense and defense will eventually line up with the quality of shots they’ve created and forced on either end with their starting lineup on the floor. That group has surprisingly struggled since being reunited, posting a -11.8 net rating now through 10 games.

After Sunday’s loss featured an uncharacteristic shooting night by Dejounte Murray from three, Toronto only finished 32.4% from deep. None of their players sunk more than two. They converted only 3-of-12 in the second half, but outscored Boston by 11 points over that stretch with timely cuts, put-backs and transition buckets.

“We just didn’t do a great job protecting the rim with our shift activity,” Mazzulla said after. “It’s attention to detail. Knowing who you’re guarding.”

He stressed staying together after the loss, acknowledging that the Celtics didn’t play well on either end of the floor.  They yielded open looks to Davion Mitchell and Scottie Barnes while falling behind 10-2. Derrick White missed his first three shots and finished 2-of-9, and Ochai Agbaji broke out for an easy two that forced Mazzulla’s first time. He pulled White less than four minutes into the game, far earlier than normal, and while Kristaps Porziņģis and Payton Pritchard provided lifts into the second units, Boston could never string together stops and trailed for much of the night.

Holiday and Pritchard post-ups and a pair of Porziņģis threes gave the Celtics a 29-25 edge after one. That carried into the second when Jaylen Brown missed a transition layup, tried to guard Chris Boucher too aggressively after returning to the defensive end then shoving him after cut past him into rebounding position. Kelly Olynyk drained a three on the second chance try to cap a 12-0 Raptors answer, Holiday missing his next shot and visibly kicking himself the same way White did through early misses. A usually hopeful Porziņģis sounded more stern speaking to NBC Sports Boston and reporters after, saying the performance lacked spirit and personality.

“We’re just going up and down,” he said. It’s weird to say. We have high character people here.”

RJ Barrett and Gradey Dick extended Toronto’s lead to six with cutting layups before Brown botched a put-back and dribbled off his leg on the break in a strange 10-point effort where he forced his offense. Holiday fired a pass by Porziņģis that flew out of bounds. The Celtics shot 39.6% from the field and 34.8% from three, falling to 27th in three-point efficiency this month (33.1%). They attempted 46 threes, up slightly from the Pelicans game, but have watched their average fall to just above 44 each night this month, below 49.3 for the season as they force more difficult twos. That put the Celtics in position for a defensive meltdown in the third where Barrett and Jakob Poeltl pulverized them around the basket by making quick reads. They combined to shoot 18-for-34.

Beyond the breakdowns protecting the rim, often set up by pulling Porziņģis away from the basket and back-cutting Boston’s wings, Poeltl broke down their pick-and-roll defense too in a 5-for-5 third. The Celtics, quickly losing their defensive standing into a 14th-ranked January on that end, only forced 10 turnovers and couldn’t finish possessions into the fourth. There, they removed Tatum from the floor following a full third where he only attempted six of Boston’s 24 shots. Following what they’ve done all year. By the time he reentered, the Celtics allowed a 9-2 run and trailed by 13 points. Tatum never took another shot for the rest of the night.

The game showed rigidness, the Celtics awaiting their own shots falling and unable to rely on defense against one of the league’s worst teams. Al Horford stayed in his bench role, Sam Hauser shot 1-of-6 and Luke Kornet sprinkled in 10 minutes behind them, comprising the entirety of Boston’s depth contributions. Mazzulla rattled off timeouts throughout the loss, and the turnaround never came. The Celtics never made a second half dent, and return home for a weekend back-to-back with a 7-7 record over their last 14 games after a loss where they lacked a collective response.

“We have to start playing better. We can’t keep cruising and expect to just turn it up toward the end,” Porziņģis told reporters after.