Raptors hold on to beat the Celtics in a big comeback

The Raptors did not start very well as they only 13 points in the first and 30 points in the first half and shot only 23% in the first half and were only down 36-30 @ halftime. Then in the third quarter the Raptors just owned the Celtics outscoring them 27-11 (tied for the least amount of points in a quarter by an opponent this season) and they shot 8 of 15 from the floor as DeRozan had 13 of his game high 22 in the quarter. The fourth quarter was easy early for the Raps outscored them 15-10 if the first half of the final quarter and then the Celtics D got very tough as the Celtics outscored the Raptors 18-4 and they could not breath on offense with both of their point guards on 10 day contracts and it was 76-75 Raptors and then DeRozan hit four from the line in the last 27 seconds of the game as he was 13 of 13 from the line in the game. Kleiza salted away the game with four free throws in the last 13 seconds of the game as apart of his 17 points as the Raptors were 11 of 11 from the line in the fourth and 27 of 31 in the game on their way to a 84-79 victory as they split the season series since the creation of the big three. The Raptors out rebounded the Celtics 50-37 behind 5 players with at least 8 boards and were lead by Ed Davis who had 12 boards. Paul Pierce had a Celtic high of 18 points and Avery Bradley had 15 points while Kevin Garrnet quietly got a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards. The Raptors will be without Andrea Bargnani for the rest of the season as he will be sidelined with his calf muscle injury in what was a great season when he was healthy and lets hope he can rest his Calf in the off0season and be ready for a normal 82 games season next season. Tom Mehegan