This Toronto game ended up being a strange win but a good win. I missed most of the first quartter.
Tatum had a rough scoring game. Five Celtics reached double digits in points, Tatum did not (8 points). Even new Celtic EK Freedom scored more points (9) than Tatum. Tatum shot 2-16 from the field. But he did some good things: 10 assists (4th time he's done this in his career) and 7 rebounds. He didn't just rack up assists, there were some geniunely good looks in there.
Marcus Smart led the team in scoring with 21, including 4 of 10 from 3 (and a few of those threes were critical). Also 8 rebounds and 6 assists (second on team behind Tatum).
Double double from Al (17-11).
Jaylen in limited (27) minutes scored 16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists.
Grant added 15 points, including going 3 of 4 from 3. Also had a great block. On the season, Grant is now second on the team in made threes (6th in attempts). His 4 for 4 shooting from the free throw line brought him, incredibly, up to 50/40/90 on the season! He's not what we think of as a 50/40/90 player, but I'll take it for however long it lasts.
They got some decent contributions off the bench.
The new guy, EK Freedom, played 22 minutes, went +15, and came one point away from a double double. On some key possessions in the 3rd and 4th quarter, EK's offensive rebounding and putbacks kept them in the game.
Pritchard got 10 minutes and was +10, but did very little. 0-3 from the field and a turnover.
Richardson was terrific in this game. He scored 18 in 27 minutes on 6 of 11 shooting. He was +23 to elad the team. With Schoder out he added a ballahndling element, and he was able to create (and hit) some decent midrange looks for himself.
Romeo Langford played 26 minutes (not quite starter minutes?), shot only 1 of 5 from the floor, but that undersells his contribution. He was aggressive (as he has been lately) on drives to the hoop and had a couple of decent looks that rolled off the rim. On a key late poession with Toronto making a comeback, Tatum fed Romeo who took it to the hoop, was fouled, and hit both. Also, Romeo pulled down 8 rebounds, including 3 offensives, and at least one of his missed shots led to an easy Kanter (his name is tecnhically not changed yet) putback.
This was a game was mostly close throughout. The Celtics built up a lead in the 3rd, Toronto almost eraised it in the 4th, but the Celtics held them off.