The Boston Celtics came away with a massive New Year’s Eve victory.
With a new calendar year on the horizon, the Boston Celtics hosted the Toronto Raptors. They ended up coming away with a massive 125-71 victory over the Raptors. In fact, as they advanced to 24-9 on the season, the Celtics came away with the largest margin of victory on the season.
The Celtics are continuing to prove to be one of the most talented teams in the league, and their 45-point outburst in the third quarter did exactly that. Looking to repeat as champions and prove their dominance, Boston is looking like they were expected to prior to the season.
Boston shot the ball extremely well, though it was their parity that led them to the large margin of victory. The squad had seven double-digit scorers, with only Jayson Tatum notching the 20-point mark.
The Celtics’ electric third quarter helped them to a blowout
The Celtics were set to blowout the Raptors, who fell to 7-26 on the season, but their third quarter, as mentioned, led to a bigger margin of victory and, evidently, more of a confidence boost. Despite such a hot start to the season, the Celtics are third in the NBA standings. There’s a bit to prove for the reigning champions.
For Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, the assessment for the scoring explosion was quite simple.
“Shots were going in,” Mazzulla said.
The assessment is simple, but it’s also fair. The Celtics play in such a manner that sometimes, that’s all it takes — making shots. The Celtics nailed 22 of their 41 3-point attempts, which is a 41.2 percent conversion rate.
Boston is able to do this to any team in the league. They generate remarkable looks from downtown and convert at a superb rate. However, according to Mazzulla, there was one key reason they were able to get the big win.
Mazzulla thanks the fans for the big turnout, leading to the big win
The Celtics are one of the most historical franchises in the NBA. They’ve got the most titles in league history. They’re also incredibly consistent as a contender. For all of those reasons combined and more, they’ve got a stellar fanbase.
They played this game at 3 o’clock local time, which usually doesn’t bode well for attendance for a sporting even on a weekday. That’s not the case for the Celtics, and Mazzulla recognized that with the players.
“I told the guys before the game: ‘3 o’clock on a Tuesday, we’ve lost more home games this year than we had last year — look at the passion that they have for who we are,’” Mazzulla said after the win.
The crowd behind them while shooting the ball well makes momentum easy to secure, and they rode that momentum all the way to the end of the game. Now with 27 wins, Boston continues their incredible pace on the season while remaining in good form.
