FAMILIAR FACE
The Raptors take down Amir Johnson and Celtics to open season with two straight wins,
BOSTON— One by one they walked over for hugs and handshakes and conversations, a busload of Raptors players, coaches and officials who wanted a minute with an old friend.
Amir Johnson greeted them all with his usual smile, infectious laugh and genuine love and respect.
It’s what he did for six years as a teammate, it’s what he does now as an opponent, it’s what he’ll do in the future.
Hundreds of Raptors have come and gone over the past two decades, and it is hard to imagine anyone more universally liked than Johnson.
“I tried to be cheerful,” he said of what stood him apart from so many others. “Every morning at practice I’d try to get the locker going, say something funny or play some music, get everybody going . . . somebody has to be the guy that’s cheerful so I tried to do that.”
It’s impossible to quantify what Johnson, who left Toronto for Boston and a two-year, $24-million freeagent contract, meant to the Raptors. He was in indefatigable worker on the court in his six seasons but he was more appreciated by teammates for what he did away from the action.
“He brought everything together,” said DeMar DeRozan, a teammate for Johnson’s six Toronto seasons. “People don’t realize how great of a dude Amir is. He’s one of those guys to where, if you’re having the worst day of your life, if he’d call you or he’d come over or whatever, he’s going to brighten your day up some kind of way.
“You’re never going to see Amir upset or mad at anything. Six years I played with him, I probably (saw) him mad twice, that’s the kind of person he is.” Johnson may not have been mad Friday night but he wouldn’t have been happy after DeRozan scored 23 points and the Raptors beat the Celtics 113-103 in a foul-plagued marathon at the TD Garden.
DeRozan was 12-for-14 from the free-throw line and the Raptors got a huge night from oft-maligned backup Terrence Ross, had 21 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter.
“Coming off the bench kind of helps me because you see what the team needs to work on,” Ross said, “if we’re lacking intensity or we need a defensive presence or a (scoring) spark off the bench.”
Ross, whose search for consistency has been long-chronicled, hit a couple of three-pointers but also at- tacked the rim aggressively.
“Not only that, I thought his defensive activity and focus (were good); staying locked in (on Avery) Bradley, chasing him off screens, rebounding,” coach Dwane Casey said. “All those things helped him get in a rhythm offensively.”
The Raptors, still struggling at times on offence, exploded from three-point range, drilling 11 on the night, with four from DeMarre Carroll. Toronto, as it had in a seasonopening win over Indiana, took control in the third quarter a sluggish first half.
“I just think we got more aggressive,” Carroll said after a 21-point night. ”Coach told us to stop coming down and just running sets . . . We got out and just kept running.”
Speedy backup guard Isaiah Thomas led the Celtics with 25 points. Johnson finished with 11 points and eight rebounds coming off the bench.
Casey now has 156 career victories with the Raptors, tying him with Sam Mitchell as the winningest coach in franchise history.