Ten takeaways from the Celtics’ loss to the Raptors

1. Huge Jordan Walsh minutes

Going into the final preseason game, one of the final questions for the Celtics was who would fill Oshae Brissett’s role for the Celtics this season, and last night Jordan Walsh might have won the job.

Walsh was part of the Celtics’ first round of substitutions, having come off the bench at the start of this game and seemingly gaining the trust of Joe Muzzulla. Walsh played heavy minutes with the starters early in the first quarter, trying to find his role but struggling a bit. Then in the 2nd quarter, Walsh was part of a huge 25-2 Celtics run and contributed. He got a steal off Scottie Barnes that led to a layup by Luke Kornet and hit a three-pointer on the wing after an assist from Payton Pritchard.

Walsh did nothing in the 3rd quarter, but in the 4th quarter he was part of a comeback attempt by the Celtics, hitting a huge layup to tie the game with 48.8 seconds left in the quarter.

With the game on the line and the Celtics trailing by 1 with 11.7 seconds left, Jordan Walsh had a chance to win the game with the final shot, but was rejected (and arguably fouled) at the rim.

It was by no means a perfect night for Walsh, as he finished the game with 7 points on 2-6 shooting from the field and 1-3 from three, but he played some solid minutes with the starters and perhaps could have played his way through regulation Season rotation.

2. Jayson Tatum had a good game despite the shooting numbers.

When looking at Jayson Tatum’s final numbers, the title of this insight might be misleading. Tatum finished the game with 24 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists on 9-22 shooting from the field and 5-13 shooting from three. Not the best shooting numbers, but if you watched the game in the first half, Tatum was on a roll.

Tatum started hot, hitting Jakob Poeltl in the face with a soft three-pointer and giving his former teammate Bruno Fernando a nasty poster dunk.

He ended the first quarter with a dunk-off steal from Jordan Walsh and had a total of 7 points. Tatum continued his hot shooting in the second quarter, where he hit two three-pointers and a mid-range buzzer over Jonathan Mogbo.

At halftime, Jayson Tatum had 15 points on 6-12 shooting and 3-6 from three, but he struggled to find his shot in the second half as it looked like he was forcing a lot of contested threes, affecting his efficiency completely destroyed. It actually looked like Tatum was just trying to take as many shots as possible before Joe Mazzulla subbed him for the game, so I’m willing to overlook that.

The most important thing to take away from this game was the fact that Jayson Tatum’s jump shot continued to look good and at no point in the game was he afraid to look for his shot. If his shot hits consistently all season while continuing to get his teammates involved, we could see the best version of Jayson Tatum this season.

3. Double big lineups could make a comeback

With Kristaps Porzingis out to start the season, depth at the big man position will be more important than ever for the Celtics. We got a lot of minutes from Luke Kornet in preseason, The results: pretty solid.

One of the best performances from the double-big lineup was the lineup of Pritchard-Walsh-Tatum-Tillman-Kornet early in the second quarter, in which the Celtics went on a 19-0 run. Tillman and Kornet blocked the Raptors on defense, leading to quick break threes from Pritchard and Tatum.

The Celtics played a series of double big combinations with Tillman/Kornet, Horford/Kornet and Horford/Queta. I’m very interested to see if Joe Mazzulla puts together more double-big lineups with Tatum at small forward this season.

4. Luke Kornet as preseason Most Improved Player

At the start of last preseason, not many people were excited about Luke Kornet. Kornet was known for his funny postgame interviews and his on-court signing celebrations after making a basket and being a good third-line center. But over the course of the offseason, Kornet has put a lot of work into his game and developed into a player the Celtics may not be able to live without.

In the four preseason games he has played this year, Luke Kornet is shooting 17-23 from the field and is 5-5 tonight. It felt like he was always in the right place at the right time for the Celtics and was incredibly comfortable in the starting lineup. Kornet also improved his rebounding and defense, becoming a fairly serviceable anchor for the Celtics defense.

I’m very excited to see what Luke Kornet brings to the Celtics this season, and he could be their most important player coming off the bench.

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5. Payton Pritchard never ceases to amaze

Payton Pritchard has had an incredible preseason so far, joining White, Brown, Tatum and Horford in the starting lineup today while Jrue Holiday took a break, and he continued to put on a show.

During the 19-0 run to start the second quarter, Pritchard was the main catalyst for the scoring, hitting consecutive three-pointers and attacking the offensive glass, leading to second-chance opportunities.

Pritchard finished his night with 15 points on 5-11 shooting from three-point range, continuing his streak of excellent three-point shooting during the preseason by shooting a total of 21-44 (47.7%) from long range in five games .

Payton Pritchard will play a big role for this team and will be prepared for any situation he is put in. He said it himself after Sunday’s win, he’s a winner and he’ll play his role and help the Celtics win games.

6. Toronto dominated the glass

These takeaways aren’t all positive, as we’ve reached the biggest weakness in the Celtics game, which was the 57-36 rebounding score against Toronto. This led to the Raptors outscoring the Celtics 24-5 in the second chance. Boston easily pulled away thanks to Jakob Poeltl grabbing 16 rebounds, and in that regard it was a sloppy performance overall.

This could be a very mild cause for concern going forward, as we’ve seen in the past with a player like Myles Turner in the Eastern Conference Finals, for example, who did pretty much whatever he wanted with the Celtics without Porzingis was on the field. If this Celtics team had an Achilles heel, it might be rebounding from a more physical center.

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7. No minutes for Jaden Springer or Lonnie Walker

Jaden Springer and Lonnie Walker were not part of the Celtics rotation today as Joe Mazzulla ran a 9-man rotation consisting of Pritchard, White, Brown, Tatum, Horford, Kornet, Walsh for the first three and a half quarters of the game. Tillman and Queta. In the last six minutes of the fourth quarter, Walsh and Queta were joined by Ron Harper Jr, Baylor Scheierman and JD Davison.

This came following a bit of debate among Celtics fans about the possibility of perhaps trading Springer to add Walker to the roster. Springer was a little disappointing this preseason as he didn’t get a lot of minutes, and when he did have them, they weren’t very impressive, and Jordan Walsh seemed to be taking a leap. However, Walker is coming off a 20-point game against the Raptors on Sunday, so his failure to participate could mean he may not make the team. It will be interesting to see what happens with Springer and Walker early in the season.

8. JD Davison’s crazy 4th quarter

When JD Davision entered the game with 5:11 left in the fourth quarter, the Celtics trailed 108-100. Davison scored 8 straight points for the Celtics, highlighted by a layup after a steal and a crazy three-pointer to put Boston within striking distance.

With 26.4 seconds left, JD Davison had a crazy stepback to give the Celtics the lead.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the game-winning shot as he received a foul with 11.7 seconds left, sending DJ Carton to the line who hit both free throws to win the game for Toronto. Despite the mistake at the end, Davison has shown real improvement in the limited time he was given in pre-season. If he has another good season in Maine, he could be on the roster in the future.

9. Al Horford shakes off the rust

This was the first preseason game Al Horford played this season and you could tell he was shaking off some rust. Horford finished the game with just 2 points on 1-6 shooting from the field and 0-4 from three. The looks at Horford were right, but the shots just weren’t falling.

I don’t think this is a concern at all as I think Horford will be fine once the season starts, but it’s still something worth mentioning.

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10. The Celtics will never be eliminated from a game

This game was perfect proof that the Celtics always have a chance to win a game, no matter how far behind they are. The Celtics started slowly, allowing the Raptors to score 46 points in the first quarter. To counter this explosion from Toronto, the Celtics opened the second quarter with a 19-0 run and tied the game, erasing a 24-point deficit and leading at halftime. In the 3rd quarter, the Celtics couldn’t hit a single shot and only scored 19 points, but bounced back in the 4th quarter when they almost managed a comeback at the end.

That showed me that this team won’t give up no matter who is out there, starting or in the reserves, even in preseason. This is Joe Mazzulla’s attitude at work and it makes me happy to see that everyone has joined in.

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