DeMar DeRozan had another big game on Sunday, but the Raptors simply ran out ofgas late on, losing to the Boston Celtics.

The Toronto Raptors returned home after their Western Conference road trip to face

a Celtics team that had dropped 3 of their last 4 games. They were without Jerryd

Bayless, Andrea Bargnani, Sonny Weems, Peja Stojakovic and Reggie Evans. To

make matters worse, Amir Johnson, Jose Calderon and Leandro Barbosa suited up

despite still suffering from their respective injuries.

The Celtics also had some key players in the treatment room, as Kevin Garnett, Delonte

West and Kendrick Perkins were all inactive.

Rajon Rondo returned from his sprained left ankle to start after sitting out the previous

7 contests. Despite not contributing much, the C’s were simply a different team with

Rondo back in the lineup. The NBA’s leading passer claims he knows the playbook

better than Doc, and who would doubt him?

Those who did not see the game will see a 93-79 final score, and simply assume that

the Celtics were always going to win it, and simply rested their big guys when the game

had already been won. Doing that would be an injustice to those Raptor players who

put in commendable shifts, keeping the Dino’s in the game until the final moments.

DeMar DeRozan followed up his career night in Houston with 27 points, as he was

once again teasing fans with his potential. He was hitting his mid range jumper with

consistency, slashing to the rim and chasing down his misses. Joey Dorsey was

assigned the task of handling Shaq, and responded with a respectable 13 points and 13

rebounds, 7 of them on the offensive end.

Paul Pierce led the way for the Celtics with an efficient 30 points, coming up with huge

plays in the 4th quarter to help his team pull away. He was helped out by Ray Allen

who had a quiet 23 points.

The game was hanging in the balance at the half with the Celtics up 43-42 despite the

Raptors not playing particularly well on the offensive end of the floor. Linas Kleiza and

Leandro Barbosa had terrible outings, as they both went 3 for 12 from the field. To be

fair, Kleiza did manage to grab 9 rebounds, and keep our much coveted 3 point streak

alive, both noteworthy contributions from the Lithuanian forward.

The team as a whole were awful at the line, and only made 10 of their 22 free throw

attempts. That simply isn’t good enough against any team in the NBA, let alone an elite

one.

The final score doesn’t indicate how hard most of the Toronto Raptors played for most

of the night. But at the end of the day, it ends up being just another loss. Here’s to

hoping the Raptors can use the positives of this game in Chicago on Tuesday.

Random Notes

- The 6 pm start time doesn’t seem to be working out for us so far. Teams seem far

lazier at the 1pm start time, lets not forget to take advantage of the Toronto nightlife.

- Is the DeRozan vs Weems debate even a debate anymore? DeMar’s defensive game

still needs a lot of work, but if he can keep up this kind of production offensively it can

only help this team.

- The referees were absolutely terrible tonight and botched a few calls

- Yes this loss was heartbreaking, but did you expect us to win? Look at both starting

lineups and its clear that each Celtic is more talented than their Raptor counterpart,

the closest it comes is with Amir and Big Baby, but even then Big Baby (sadly) still has

the edge

- Andrea Bargnani and Peja Stojakovic looked very spiffy in their suits. Here’s to hoping

the former returns sometime soon.

Sasha Kalra