Blake Murphy Sports Writing

The Toronto Raptors went into the homes of the defending NBA champions, fell behind by 34 points early, yet showed enough fight and determination to make the Boston Celtics sweat, turning a blowout into a nail-biter.

Don’t, uh, worry about the context specifics. Like the Celtics being on the second night of a back-to-back, or them playing without seven of their top eight players, or this being a pre-season game, or the comeback more closely resembling Raptors 905 beating the Maine Celtics-née-Red Claws. The Raptors lost 115-111 on the road to the best team in the league. That’s all you need for a holiday headline.

In reality, this was a tale of two games, both of them extremely pre-season-y. The Raptors came out with an inexcusable lack of energy and execution, getting run off the floor to the tune of 41 Celtics points in the first quarter. Even down two starters and a few rotation pieces themselves, the Raptors don’t have the laurels to rest on so early in exhibition play, with so many players fighting for roles and minutes and jobs. They were beaten to every rebound and loose ball and hardly looked like a team that’s been talking nothing but defence over the last two weeks.