The box score is deceiving. The final score may look like an easy victory for the Celtics,, But Friday night's 116-103 win against the Raptors was an emotion-filled 48 minutes of basketball. While there were plenty of positives for the Celtics – a game-changing third quarter, a domination of points in the paint – there were plenty of things that did not sit well with Rasheed Wallace.
Here are three things we learned from Friday's game, including plenty of commentary from Wallace.
SHEED SOUNDS OFF ON THE REFS
A total of three technical fouls were called against the Celtics on Friday. The first was whistled against Wallace early in the second quarter. He was called for a personal foul against Hedo Turkoglu, who he believed flopped. Wallace argued the call and was slapped with a tech.
“They gotta know that he’s a damn flopper,” said Wallace. “That’s all Turkododo do. Flopping shouldn’t get you no where. He acts like I shot him.”
The second and third technicals came in the fourth quarter. Paul Pierce dunked on Chris Bosh in the first 20 seconds. Bosh fell to the ground following the jam and Pierce was given a technical for taunting. Doc Rivers disagreed with the call and was also hit with a tech. After the game Bosh offered his perspective of the incident.
“I got kneed in my pelvic region,” he said. “I couldn't tell what was going on. I was looking at the ground pretty much.”
Wallace, however, had a different point of view.
“Oh somebody should have got some tissue to wipe Paul's butt because, you know, if you all get the meaning of that,” he said. “But it was nasty and I told him a couple of minutes ago, I said I didn't see any of the other games tonight but so far that's No. 1 for the week, probably for the month. It was vicious.”
The three technicals did not sit well with Wallace. Between his opinion of flopping – which he says should merit a technical in itself – and the call against Pierce, he does not believe every player is judged by equal standards.
“This game is watered down, watered down with all that flopping [crap],” he said. “They’re setting rules on us to the point where you’re taunting if you dunk on somebody. Paul dunked it and then he didn’t say nothing but it’s a tech.”
He added, “Let the Golden Child do that or one of the 'NBA Without Border' kids do that, it’s all fine and dandy.”
Wallace also believes that this game, as well as many others, was actually closer than it should have been.
“Because the league ain't going for that no more,” he said of blowouts. “You know that's my opinion, that's my take on it. Because if you look at some of the things that's been called, like tonight, I got a tech tonight for saying that he's a flopper ... I didn't use no profanity.”
Wallace now leads the league with six technical fouls.
THE SLUMP IS SNAPPED
“That happens. It's basketball,” Daniels said on Wednesday. “That happens. Anybody could go like that.”
He was right. On Friday Wallace snapped out of his offensive slump to give the Celtics 15 points off the bench. In contrast to his recent performance (26.8 percent FG, 16.0 percent 3-pointers in previous five games), he shot 6-for-11 from the field and 3-for-6 from three-point range.
“It was great,” Kendrick Perkins said of Wallace's performance. “I think Rasheed always gets going when he gets an easy bucket down low and then it kind of gets him going and he gets his rhythm going with the three-point shooting. Once he starts in, I think he's great.”
Wallace's on-point shooting helped the Celtics spread the floor against the Raptors and gave them more options both behind the arc and in the paint. But the Celtics pride themselves on defense, not offense, and focus more on what Wallace does without the ball to help them win.
“People talk about how he spreads the floor with his shooting but I think he’s such an underrated defender,” said Pierce. “I think he gets into the heads of other guys. You saw him on Bosh, you see him on Dwight Howard in past games, you know I think that’s where he’s very underrated in the way he rebounds.”
Wallace has bought into the Celtics system and agrees. Offensive slumps will come, he can deal with those. But it's what he does on the other end of the court that matters the most to him.
“Offense doesn't concern me because it's easier for people to make lay ups than it is to get stops on defense or a block. So that's what I hang my hat on is defense,” Wallace said. “The shots, it's part of it. You know, you're going to go through a slump. Everyone in their career goes through a few slumps. But the thing I how you react from it. Are you going to pout about it or are you going to try to shoot your way out of it. And I'm damn sure going to try to shoot my way out of it.”
CELTICS RULE THE PAIN
The Celtics scored a season-high 68 points in the paint, surpassing their previous mark of 60 against the Suns earlier this month.
Garnett and Perkins combined for a perfect 14-for-14 from the field while the Celtics attacked the basket, exposing the Raptors lack of size down low.
“We played them after they caught the ball instead of before they caught the ball,” said Raptors coach Jay Triano. “And their starting bigs didn’t miss a shot. Both guys were perfect and we tried to come and double team, and they found another guy - and shared the ball well and shot a really good percentage.”
Their aggression left the Raptors baffled.
“If I had the answer, I would’ve told you by now,” he said of stopping the Celtics. “I would’ve told all the other guys. So that’s something we have to figure out for ourselves. I mean its just effort every night. [The Celtics] just get into the paint at will, and we can’t have that. We just got to help each other out, close that paint off and- we haven’t challenged a team to make all jumpers yet. So that’s what we’ve talked about and we have to stick to that game plan. Or rather not stick to, just do it first and then maybe it would work.”
While the Raptors didn't stick to their gameplan, the Celtics follows theirs. Rivers wanted them to attack and the players followed suit.
Said Perkins, “Before the game Doc said before the game we just needed a real power game.”
By the end of the game, the Celtics outscored the Raptors by 20 points in the paint.
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