Tatum and Celtics crush overpowering Raptors to close out 2024

The Celtics have struggled on both ends, but Tuesday’s game was a good effort.

Jayson Tatum and the Celtics took out some frustrations against an overmatched Raptors team on Tuesday, closing 2024 with a 125-71 win by the NBA’s largest margin so far this season.

Here are the snack bars.

1. The Celtics were dominant defensively.

The Celtics have struggled on both ends, but Tuesday’s game was a good effort.

This was especially the case on defense. The Celtics scored 80 points in the second half. The Raptors scored 71 points in the entire game.

Joe Mazzulla often describes quarters in which his team allows 25 or fewer as defensive successes. The Celtics managed to hold the Raptors under 25 in every quarter, including 12 in the first, which was a season low. The Raptors scored just 18 points in both games three and four.

Any time a team loses by 50 points, the numbers are particularly skewed in one direction, but Toronto shot 10 of 40 from 3-point range and turned the ball over 21 times. That’s a recipe for disaster on any night, but especially on a night when the Raptors also shot poorly from the interior (27-86 overall, 31 percent).

The Raptors are not a good team, and Tuesday’s game didn’t really prove anything to the Celtics, who had lost four of six games entering the contest.

Still, on a difficult track, it never hurts to beat a bad opponent by pounding them into the asphalt, and archaeologists may find dinosaur bones under TD Garden for a while.

Payton Pritchard told reporters afterward that the difference Tuesday was “all on defense.”

“I don’t know if you can tell. Just more active,” he said. “Help each other. We had more steals, more deflections. We just have to continue to be aware of making conscious efforts defensively, being active and helping and switching.”

2. Jayson Tatum started slowly but came to life.

Tatum seemed frustrated after Sunday’s loss to the Pacers, and he came out slow on Tuesday – missing several 3-pointers and struggling around the rim.

However, by the end of his time on the floor, Tatum looked extremely comfortable.

As is often the case, Tatum played with himself and didn’t really force the issue; he shot just 13 times and made it to the free throw line 11 times. He was part of a balanced attack: Three Celtics attempted 13 shots (Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard), and no one else attempted double-digit shots.

3. Jrue Holiday returned to the floor.

Holiday missed the last three games with a right shoulder injury but was back on the floor Tuesday.

The Celtics have missed everything Holiday has to offer – they’ve struggled defensively (Holiday’s specialty) in recent games and their 3-point shooting has let them down. On Tuesday, Holiday was 4 of 5 from deep (and 5 of 8 overall).

“It felt great to be back,” Holiday said. “The shoulder is fine. It sucks sitting out, so it felt great to be back and of course to be in that arena and play in front of the fans in the last game of the new year.”

Holiday hasn’t had the same success from deep this year as he did last year.

“Maybe the hit helped,” he joked. “Maybe it got my shoulder in line and now I can see three or two going in. It felt good. I think basketball is obviously a physical sport, and getting hit a few times today felt good a few times, hurt a few times. But we will do it.”

4. Payton Pritchard caught fire again.

Pritchard appears to have fully regained his goalscoring fortunes after a short, difficult spell. Against the Bulls, Magic and 76ers – a stretch in which the Celtics, perhaps not coincidentally, lost two of three – Pritchard never scored in double figures. Since then, he scored 18, 21 and 23 points in back-to-back games against the Pacers and in Tuesday’s loss.

The Celtics are at their best when Pritchard comes off the bench and can keep the score up. On Tuesday, he shot 7 of 13 from the floor and 5 of 8 from three and scored 19 points with six rebounds and four assists.

Pritchard praised the defense for the Celtics’ improved offense.

“I feel like the flow is just easier,” he said. “Especially when getting up and down. The ball just pops. You’ll play better. You’ll shoot better.”

5. Al Horford made a big contribution (although he missed all of his shots).

Here too, a value of 50 points leads to strange statistics. For example: Al Horford shot 0 of 7 from the field and 0 of 6 from three balls, but was +20 in the box (and was a major contributor to the Celtics’ defensive performance).

“This guy, I would say he does it anyway,” Mazzulla said. “I mean, you can never tell from his performance at both ends of the pitch whether he’s playing well or not, and he does things that don’t even get on the scoresheet. There was a play in front of our bench where he just got a great screen-and-roll, read it right, rolled it and gave a guy an open look.

“So he is a huge stability factor, especially in situations like this where we want to play better. He kind of sets that standard.”

6. Joe Mazzulla is tired of hearing about “effort.”

Before the game, CLNS reporter Noa Dalzell asked Mazzulla about the tendency in narratives to revolve around “effort” when a team struggles defensively.

Mazzulla really appreciated the question.

“That’s the most profound statement in my three years, that’s what you just said,” he told Dalzell. “The most profound statement ever.”

Mazzulla was also asked what it means to him to take over the reins of the Celtics at the end of his second calendar year with the team.

“It’s just the responsibility and ownership of what it means to work for the Celtics,” he said. “I mean, this job isn’t what it is if the people before you didn’t set the standard with winning, the way they won and the tradition that comes with it. So for me, you have to be responsible and have ownership of it.”

7. Jordan Walsh continued to shine.

Walsh keeps showing flashes. On Tuesday, he played the fourth quarter, which, as much as Mazzulla hates this season, was garbage time, but he scored 10 points, including a pull-up 3-pointer and three swooping layups. On the final pass, he dribbled around a pick-and-roll, trapped his defender on his butt, and then walked the rest of the way to the rim.

It’s not entirely clear what yet, but something is leaking from Walsh and it’s fun to see.

8. The Celtics start 2025 on the road.

The Celtics will face the Timberwolves in Minnesota on Thursday before traveling to Houston to face the Rockets on Friday. They then take on the Thunder and Nuggets before returning to TD Garden to play the Kings next Friday.

“As a competitor, it will be a big challenge,” Pritchard said. “I’m really looking forward to it. We play against a lot of good opponents. This is not necessarily the championship, but it is preparing for it. In moments like this you have to fight and get better.

“Hopefully we win every game. But if we lose, it’s preparation. It builds on the future. It’s going to be a really good test for us and we’re going to go out and compete.”