7 takeaways as Sam Hauser, short-handed Celtics dominate Raptors
"We had no reason to be competitive and play the way we did other than it's the right thing to do."
A short-handed Celtics team blew out the Raptors 121-102 — a dominant, feel-good showing in their penultimate game of the 2022-23 regular season.
Here are the takeaways.
1. On Wednesday, after the Celtics clinched the 2-seed with a victory over the Raptors, Malcolm Brogdon was asked how the team planned to approach the rest of the regular season.
“It’s about finishing the season strong with good habits,” Brogdon said. “We don’t want to lose these two games. We want to go in with momentum.”
The next day, the Suns did the Celtics a favor by beating the Nuggets 119-115 — officially locking the Celtics into their postseason position. The Celtics can’t catch the Bucks, and they can’t be caught by the 76ers. Meanwhile, if they make it through the Eastern Conference and reach the Finals, they are guaranteed a home-court advantage against any Western Conference opponent.
Appropriately, given the circumstances, the Celtics rested a number of players Friday, including Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon, as well as Jaylen Brown, who will miss the final game of the regular season with a laceration on his hand.
And still, the Celtics overwhelmed the Raptors. Jayson Tatum scored 18 of his 21 points in the first quarter and sat the entire second half. Robert Williams was brilliant on both ends. Sam Hauser led all scorers and made six 3-pointers. In the fourth quarter, Payton Pritchard helped the bench hold the lead.
The Celtics played the right way and came away with a lot of feel-good moments in what will likely be the last time we see a number of the rotation players during the regular season.
“We had no reason to be competitive and play the way we did other than it’s the right thing to do,” Joe Mazzulla said. “You can have fun after you do that.”
2. Friday marked the public debut of Jayson Tatum’s signature shoe, the Tatum 1. Tatum passed out pairs to teammates and team personnel prior to the game as well as NBC Sports Boston’s Mike Gorman and Brian Scalabrine, and he sported his pair during the game.
That wasn’t Tatum’s only milestone on Friday. If he doesn’t play on Sunday (which seems very likely, given the standings and how well the Celtics’ bench has played this season when left to its own devices), Tatum will become the first player in the history of the Celtics organization to average 30 or more points per game for an entire season.
After the game, a reporter asked Tatum how different this Celtics team is from last year.
“I think experience is the best teacher,” Tatum said. “This group, over these last two years, we’ve been through a lot. We’ve accomplished a lot, and we’ve failed. And we’ve failed together. Essentially, we worked all offseason, preseason and had a great regular season, I know we have one more game, but to get to this point, to get back to the playoffs, to get another opportunity, another shot, this is the moment — not what we’ve been waiting for, but we’ve been working for.”
3. Robert Williams scored four field goals, and all four were intriguing.
The first was a dunk out of a pick-and-roll with Tatum, which has the potential to be one of the Celtics’ toughest plays to defend. Later, Williams started a fast break with a block and finished it with a tough layup. He knocked down a short jumper after an admittedly clumsy post move. And finally, he showed feathery touch, catching and finishing a lob late in the third quarter off the glass.
Mazzulla said he wants to see Williams be more assertive offensively.
“We need him to get involved because he has the ability to screen and get guys open, and depending upon how they guard him, if they are going to switch, we have to be able to punish that with him,” Mazzulla said. “Our guys feel comfortable throwing to him vs. smaller guys. And so he just has to be dynamic on the offensive end.”
“It’s something he works at, and he’s shown that the last couple games.”
4. We aren’t sure where you would find this stat, but we still feel very comfortable dropping it: For the first time this season, Sam Hauser threw down three dunks in a game.
The first was the best one — immediately after hitting a 3-pointer, Hauser got out in transition off a steal and threw down a big one-hand slam with Precious Achiuwa in pursuit. Hauser flexed at the crowd and chest-bumped Williams on his way back to the defensive end.
Hauser wasn’t done. He cut backdoor and threw down a two-handed dunk, then took advantage of a scrambled defense for a third early in the fourth quarter, which sent the bench into hysterics.
Even when Hauser dunks, he does it in threes.
Not all of Hauser’s teammates were impressed.
“People don’t realize Sam is like 6’8,” Pritchard said. “So he should be dunking like that. He needs to dunk more.”
A reporter asked Hauser if he’s a better dunker than Tatum now. Hauser, who has a friendly rivalry with the Celtics’ star over who the better 3-point shooter is, chuckled.
“I need to get like, probably 40 more next game to catch up to him, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to,” Hauser said. “But I’m finishing out the year on a high note in terms of that.”
Hauser scored a career-high (and game-high) 26 points.
“Sam is a big part of our team and what we’re trying to accomplish,” Tatum said. “… He’s made tremendous strides from last season to really be in the rotation of one of the guys that we trust in games like this or in big games like the playoffs. So I’m happy for him.”
5. Al Horford got as angry and animated as he ever gets in the third quarter after being whistled for a foul on a drive by Pascal Siakam. A closer look at the play in slow motion clearly showed why: Siakam swung his arm up as he drove into Horford, hitting the Celtics’ center square in the groin.
Officials reviewed the play, issued Siakam a technical, and took away the and-one, but they still gave the Raptors star two free throws. Horford appeared to talk it out with Siakam in the aftermath.
6. Pritchard wasn’t certain if he would play as he continues to deal with a bone bruise on his heel, but he scored 11 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter and was crucial in helping the Celtics maintain their big lead. He was glad to get back on the floor after a lengthy absence.
“Rhythm is a big thing in this game,” Pritchard said. “So for me to get these two games and get in a rhythm a little bit and just feel that flow again is important after I hadn’t played in like a month, really. In D.C. I played a short stint, but it’s been a month.”
7. The Raptors looked less than enthused to be on the court and mounted only a half-hearted comeback attempt in the second half facing the Celtics’ second and third units. The loss snuffed out their dim chance at overtaking the Hawks for the 8-seed prior to the play-in and offered very little reason to pick them in their initial game against the 10-seed Bulls on Wednesday. The Raptors need two wins to reach the first round.
The Celtics, meanwhile, close their regular season against the Hawks at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
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