Raptors face another test in Boston

Today, the Toronto Raptors have another opportunity to see if they have what it takes to beat a contender in the Boston Celtics.

Both teams have five games left in the regular season. While the teams who will appear in some type of playoff contention are set, it’s still unclear how exactly the seeding will shake out. Now more than ever, winning matters.

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Boston is four and a half games behind Detroit, who has clinched the one-seed, meaning catching up is no longer an option. Their goal will instead be to hold off the Knicks who sit only 2.5 games behind them, and maintain one of the hardest remaining schedules.

Toronto handled business Friday in Memphis, but Atlanta and Philly were also both able to collect victories, solidifying the standings for another night. To the Raptors’ benefit, the Hawks and Sixers both have a far more challenging road ahead.

So far this season, these teams have already met three times. All three of those contests went in Boston’s favour, each by at least three possessions.

There’s no consistency in terms of any one thing that Boston out-did Toronto at. Boston shot better overall in two of the games, had better long range shooting in two of the games, out-rebounded in two, had more blocks in only one, had fewer turnovers in two, fewer fouls in only one….. And the list goes on. No one stat was in either team’s favour between the three contests.

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This leads us to the question: how can Toronto avoid the sweep by Boston and get another much-needed win?

The first key will be adaptability. Boston, and other great teams have this characteristic, which is what makes them so hard to beat. If you run them off the 3-point line, they drive. If you’re being aggressive defensively, they draw doubles and kick the ball out. Toronto needs to recognize how Boston’s game develops throughout the course of the game and keep adjusting their defence to slow and stop them. Adopting some of that strategy themselves would help too.

The second key will be slowing Boston’s big three. Brown and Tatum can score at will, and stopping them forces the less-efficient rest of the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/raptors-face-another-test-boston-130000816.html

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Publish date : 2026-04-05 13:00:00

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