NBA: Toronto Raptors vs. Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics lost yet another game at the hands of the Utah Jazz in their last game.

The duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown has proven to be a dominant duo, but injuries have thrown this entire team off-kilter this year. Keyguard Marcus Smart may not even be available for this matchup and could be a huge factor in this ball game.

Meanwhile, the Raptors have begun to rattle off a few consecutive wins now. Sitting at 11-13 despite starting the year off at 2-8.

Toronto Raptors vs Boston Celtics

The Celtics definitely have more talent to use on their roster than the Raptors have right now, and a lot of that advantage comes from their starting five.

Tatum and Brown haven’t been slowed down this season when they have gotten onto the court, playing excellent defense as well as efficient offense. They have also benefitted from Smart’s strong defensive play when he is healthy but just haven’t gotten the same production out of Kemba Walker as they did last year.

He has missed numerous games this year due to various injuries and doesn’t seem to be in any type of rhythm. His shooting has been atrocious most of the time and his defense is below average at best.

It also doesn’t help that they have no rim-protecting at the center position with Daniel Theis just not cutting it for this team. Flipping over to the Raptors, they have been solid lately. Their starting five has begun to get back into the rhythm that they had last season with Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and Normal Powell all scoring over 29 points in their last matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies [1].

Kyle Lowry was limited to seven minutes in that game, but he has been a terrific distributor and leader for this young roster. Their struggles have been consistent with the Celtics in rim protection.

Aron Baynes is definitely not the answer at the center position for this team similar to how Theis hasn’t been the answer for Boston. We could see a lot of points scored in this matchup.

Prediction: Raptors to win

With both of these teams having similar struggles, this could definitely be a high scoring game.

However, the Celtics have gotten such inconsistent play out of Walker this season and even though that may change soon, it doesn’t seem likely that he will find his shooting touch in time for this game.

The absence of Smart (if he is ruled out) could also devastate their bench unit and throw more pressure onto the duo of Brown and Tatum. The Raptors have been figuring it out lately and have got themselves into a nice streak, with both their starters and rotation players improving their game since the year first started.

This is a tale of two teams that are heading in opposite directions at the moment, and I believe that Toronto will get the best of the undermanned Celtics in this matchup. I would roll with the Raptors here.