Celtics vs Raptors' Final Score: Raptors Crush Celtics 114 - 90 to End Season.

Finally, after months and months of frustration and hope, the Raps season has finally come to an end with the Raps beating the Celtics 114-90 to finish with a record of 34-48 (Take that Hollinger!). A year that has seen the highs of well, training camp, and seen as big of lows as one could think of for a franchise. From a supposed starter just crumbling in the wake of the media glare and fan dissatisfaction (Bargnani) to a supposed star talent making game winning shots in his first couple of weeks in T.O., and subsequently throwing up 7/21 shooting nights on a regular basis (Gay). From starting 4-18 to finishing the season 30-30 on the yr. From praising Kyle Lowry as the definitive starting PG of the Raptors, to him becoming a pariah to the main stream media for his supposed "selfish" play. It's been a turbulent season for Raps fans to endure. For the last time this yr (and hopefully more to come next yr), here's the Good, Bad, Meh of tonight's encounter:

Good:

• I guess I should comment on the game as a whole. It was a laugher of a matchup. The Celtics in the second half pretty much shut it down resting their starters towards the end of the game. The Raptors were the more efficient team with an Assist/Turnover ratio of 2.89 (26-9) to the Celtics who had an assist/turnover ratio of 1.46 (19-13). The Raptors were a more aggressive team tonight getting to the FT line 28 times compared to the Celtics who got to the line only 13 times tonight (see Raps fans, the Refs don't have a bias towards you)! I'm not going to lie, There isn't much more I can tell you about this game cause well, it stank. With the Celtics knowing they had the 7th seed wrapped up, Pierce only played 14 minutes tonight, Bradley only played 24 minutes tonight and Jeff Green played 17 minutes. Compare that to the Raps who had no starter play fewer than 22 minutes tonight in Kyle Lowry.
• DeMar DeRozan has made 9 out of his last 12 3 pointers in the last 3 games. To put that in context, DeMar has only made only made 31 three pointers this yr. Surprisingly, 4 out of the 9 3's have been from the corner 3. I honestly don't know what to think of this cause the guy went 10 for 16 in his first 6 games last yr and eventually ended up 14 of 76 the rest of the way. A 3 point shot developed by either Gay or DeMar would be huuuuggggeeeee for the redundancy that these guys exhibited at times this yr.
• Amir Johnson finished the season going 3/6 from the three point line the last 4 games. Excluding Jose, Amir by virtue of going 5/13 this yr was the Raps most efficient 3 point threat with at least 10 3 pointers attempted. I don't know whether to laugh or cry by that discovery.
• Fab Melo played in this game prompting me to make jokes such as this one on the Game thread tonight

"Fab Melo is in the game, hide your kids and hide your door frames cause you never know what Fab Melo is capable of"

• Since it's the last game of the season and I frankly don't want to talk much about this game, I'll show you a tweet from Raptors HQ User bigweeze who commented on a possible Bryan Colangelo meeting with MLSE or whatever it's called today. For the record, there's a 36% possibility this might've happened.

Uhoh guys, Rudy might be getting that extension

BC: "Why did you pick up my option if you aren't going to let me extend Rudy?"
Board: "... Good point."
Rudy: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

• Michael Grange interviewed Bryan Colangelo and ran it during halftime of tonight's festivities. Going past the fact that Grange is fantastic at this job, here was my favourite part of it, as pointed out by Adam Francis.

Colangelo on Rudy Gay "He's on the way up, he's only 26.

Me: uhhhhhhh

Bad:

• Matt Devlin is seriously getting on my nerves right now. Especially when he talks about how the Raps would've been a playoff team had they not start 4-18. While he's somewhat correct, that's not the point. Why is Matt still complaining about that? Why can't he complain about the fact that this team is in the bottom 10 in Defensive Efficiency and have regressed considerably from last yr's production on that side of the ball. I don't think Matt ever mentioning that their defence was a significant reason as to why this crap happened at the beginning of the season. The guy seriously drives me nuts, especially considering that he's so much better when he's on TNT (as I'm sure he will be rant withstanding come May).
• Watching Jordan Crawford play basketball s a fate I wouldn't wish on anybody. you know how we complain that DeMar and Rudy have "tunnel vision". Well if they have tunnel vision, what the hell is Jordan Crawford then?
• This offseason for the Raps might be the bleakest one since when? 2004? They have barely any cap space, no draft picks, and aren't even in the playoffs to generate revenue. Not to mention the fact that there's a decent-good possibility that Andrea will be a Toronto Raptor come training camp next season. Ughhhhh
• Jack Armstrong not being in the Raptors finale is a real disappointment to me just cause he's amazing. Having to listen to Leo spewing clichés and propaganda on TV was just not a good thing.

Meh:

• The line for the win total for the Toronto Raptors was set at 33. With this Raptors win, I'm sure there were plenty of happy folks down at Vegas (not that we condone gambling or anything of that matter. OK we kind of do. As Randy Moss once said "Straight Cash Homey").
• Speaking on that, John Hollinger earlier this yr predicted that the Raps would win 33 games this yr and this made DeMar a little cranky towards John. What did the Raptors end up with? 34. The lesson as always; don't mess with John Hollinger.

And with that, another season in the history of the Toronto Raptors has concluded. I'd like to thank Adam for allowing me to do some of these Live Blogs and Recaps towards the end of the year, and also to the users who come in every game night rain or shine or snow or whatever type of weather Canada decides to screw us with, and comment on the game threads.

With that I bid adeau. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sit on my couch, scratch my belly, and watch Hells Kitchen on my laptop.

Mamba Out!