The Celtics had to face the offensively-minded Toronto Raptors tonight and handled them quite well, while Paul Pierce , Kevin Garnett , and Rajon Rondo watched the game from the sidelines. Tony Allen , Rasheed Wallace , and J.R Giddens got to start and really stepped up their games. The Raptors were basically playing against the Celtics bench and still lost.  Anyway, this is what I took away from this game:

Celtics Notes:

  • I was very impressed by Tony Allen's confidence with the ball in his hands. Although he certainly is not a natural point guard, he stepped up and handled the role quite fine. His ball handling skills were great. If I did not know who Tony Allen was, I would have assumed he were a veteran player by the way he kept getting to the line. Although the Celtics are one of the least athletic teams in the NBA, Allen adds the athleticism element that the Celtics will need as the season goes on. Not many experts would have predicted that he would have broken out at this time of the year.
  • The stats don't show it but Kendrick Perkins had a bad game. Fourteen points and 10 rebounds seems like a solid outing, but Perkins may have been responsible for over eight turnovers. He got four turnovers on the stat sheet, but many missed passes, travels, and bad shots were frustrating to watch. It has been a common theme among the years that when Kevin Garnett is not playing, Perkins mysteriously plays like a chicken with his head cut off. The Celtics better hope Garnett comes back or Perkins could cost them some games with his foolish mistakes.
  • J.R Giddens played great defense on Hedo Turkoglu in his first career start, limiting him to 12 points. Giddens made vital stops and prevented Turkoglu from taking many shots. This also prevented Turkoglu from heating up in the fourth quarter to help the Raptors make a comeback.
  • Lester Hudson played some quality minutes at the point and handled the pressure from Marcus Banks quite well. The one question about Hudson coming out of the draft was whether he could run the point guard position effectively. He proved tonight that he is capable of just that. He had two nice baskets as well. Sooner or later, he will take Eddie House's spot on the roster.
  • The Celtics had six players on their bench tonight, yet one of them did not get to play. That player happens to be the high-flying, Bill Walker . While just coming back from an injury, this would have been the perfect game for Walker to make his season debut. Is this a sign that Doc does not have confidence in Walker? I would expect Walker to get some playing time some time soon with all of the injuries. If not, there should be concerns about Walker's future with the Celtics.

 

   Raptors Notes:

  • I had not gotten to see Chris Bosh in person until tonight, and I left the game in shock. He makes every movement look effortless. His smooth jumper could not be stopped by any Celtic either. It still boggles my mind why the Raptors did not go to him more often in the game. He could have easily scored 40 points tonight, but he didn't seem to care to do so.
  • Chris Bosh was not the only person who did not seem to care. Andrea Bargnani put on a shooting clinic but did not commit to defense at all. Almost every player to come off of the bench did not look motivated. The Raptors had a great chance to beat the Celtics tonight but did not care to grasp the moment. They are certainly a flawed team.
  • The two players who seemed to care were Jarrett Jack and Marcus Banks. Jack was impressive since he is an inside-outside threat every time he dribbles up the court. He certainly could play better than Jose Calderon and potentially take his starting job for good once the season closes. Banks seemed determine to shut down each player bringing the ball down. He must have wanted revenge after the Celtics traded him.