Celtics showdown more than a game
All NBA regular-season games are not created equally.
Sure, they all count for one in the standings, and a win over a last-place team is as important as a victory against some middling squad and that’s all well and good and true.
But there are games that are big, that have seismic implications for the psyche as well as the standings, and anyone who professes to tell you different is bluffing or playing a game of clichés.
Even the Raptors — the “steady as she goes, just want to get better, playing for May and June” Raptors — know that Tuesday night presents an important and substantial challenge.
The Boston Celtics come calling for the first time for a showdown between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference, and even Raptors coach Dwane Casey admits there’s a bit more than usual on the line.
“Every game, every possession is the mindset we have to have, but going against Boston there are home-court implications, there are top-of-the-conference implications, and you are in a playoff race with that team,” Casey said Monday afternoon.
“So yes, it puts a little bit more importance into it.”
That’s as far as he would go — and he did preface that remark by reminding everyone that Sunday’s win over lowly Memphis was as important as whatever happens against Boston on Tuesday — but that’s farther than he’d normally go.
Raptors all-star DeMar DeRozan, on the other hand, pulled few punches.
“It’s been a while since we played them. They’re the top team in our conference. You always want to battle with the best teams in your conference and in your league, and tomorrow is an opportunity for us to face that and you look forward to it,” DeRozan said.
“I mean, we are the two best teams in our conference and every competitor wants to fight for that top spot.”
From Casey on down, the Raptors have made it known they covet the No. 1 seed in the East, which the Celtics currently hold. Those public declarations may have only been Casey’s way of keeping his team’s attention and intensity up during the arduously long regular season, but it’s out there because the Raptors put it out there, and how they respond will be telling.
Toronto is an NBA-best 21-4 at home and that could be factor. The question of whether Boston will have Kyrie Irving (quad) or Marcus Morris (hip) remained unanswered, although they travelled with the team while Marcus Smart (hand) and Shane Larkin (knee) did not.
Regardless, the Celtics are good and full measure for their East-leading 39-15 record. They have the best defensive rating in the NBA — allowing 99.9 points per 100 possessions — and have a knack for making big plays and big shots when needed, and snuffing out an opponent’s offence when it’s necessary. Without Irving, they beat Toronto 95-94 this season, surviving a missed DeRozan 15-footer at the buzzer to win.
Casey said the Raptors are better than they were that day, more comfortable with their offence and their roles. Not a finished product, as he loves to point out, but one further down the line to becoming one.
“I’m not saying we are where we want to be, but we are further along . . . than we were at that point in the season,” he said. “We are further along in what we want to do, how we want to do it and having confidence in what we are doing. So I would say yes, we are.
“When we played them earlier we were standing a lot. We weren’t moving the ball. We weren’t sticking with our triggers and executing offensively. You have to execute. You have to screen, you’ve got to space. You can’t have two guys standing next to each other against them. I know it sounds simplistic. but it’s huge. Spacing is very, very important against Boston.”
So-called “big games” have a way of not living up to the hype or the expectations, especially in the middle of a long regular season, but there’s every expectation that Tuesday might be special.
It’s a message game, no matter if no one wants to say it out loud.
“It’s definitely going to be a grind-itout game; you love them games,” DeRozan said. “You kind of get a playoff atmosphere type of feel when you’re out there, the physicality, the everything. Sometimes if the score is in the 80s it’s just as good as in the 110s or anything like that.
“It’s going to be a physical game, one of them fun games that I’m pretty sure the crowd is going to be into.
“Should be fun.”