“Everybody forgets they were 17-5 without Kawhi [Leonard].” – Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens
Despite winning the NBA championship just four months ago, the Toronto Raptors are an unheralded team at the start of the 2019-20 season thanks to the departure of two-time Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard.
However, as Celtics point guard Kemba Walker points out, the Raptors still have at least three players on their roster that pose a threat to Boston in particular: veteran point guard Kyle Lowry, fellow point guard Fred VanVleet and forward Pascal Siakam.
“They’re champions, man,” Walker stated. “They are a special group. They have a really good group of guys. Of course, Kyle (Lowry), who’s a natural-born leader, a special player, a champion now. (Fred) VanVleet, (Pascal) Siakam – guys who just increased their games to a whole other level. Everybody’s kind of counting those guys out, but that’s a really good team still, and they’re going to be on top of the East most likely.”
After defeating the (Zion-less) New Orleans Pelicans in their season opener, Toronto has started their season off on the right foot. However, the Celtics have a chance to know the Raptors off balance in the same way that the Pelicans did.
New Orleans outpaced Toronto, 19-14, on 3-point field goals for a 15-point advantage that allowed them to make up for the Raptors’ 15-point advantage at the charity stripe. Considering that the Pels lost by single-digits to Toronto and that Boston has superior talent in their starting lineup, it stands to reason that the Celtics will win if they knock down the trey ball at a high rate and keep the Raptors off the foul line.
That’ll be easier said than done, as matching up with Siakam — a skilled and athletic forward who shot 11 free-throws on Tuesday — is no simple task. The same can be said of Lowry and VanVleet, who like to get inside the paint as much as they like to devastate from beyond.
With big, burly Marc Gasol and the lanky Serge Ibaka rotating at center, small-ball may not even be an option, which puts the onus on the defense to handle their individual matchups as well as possible.
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