3 takeaways: Boston Celtics roar past Toronto Raptors

Three takeaways from the Boston Celtics 118-102 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Christmas Day.

What did the Boston Celtics give their fans on Christmas Day?

Behind the hot hand of Jaylen Brown and Kemba Walker, the Celtics delivered their fourth consecutive victory with a 118-102 victory over the shorthanded Toronto Raptors at the Sotiabank Arena early Wednesday afternoon.

Despite being shorthanded, the Raptors jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead before most Celtics fans stopped unwrapping gifts.

However, a quick timeout by Brad Stevens changed all that as the C’s responded with nine unanswered points in route to a 26-7 run that gave them control of the game.

With Gordon Hayward back in the lineup, the Celtics displayed ball movement and hot shooting beyond the stripe that was too much for the Raptors to handle without Marc Gasol, Norman Powell and Pascal Siakam.

In leading the Celtics with 30 points on the night, Jaylen Brown really showed off his versatility of offensive moves scoring from all over the court.  The team also got nice contributions from Hayward (14 points), Walker (22 points) and Enes Kanter, who came off the bench to record a double-double with 12 points and 11 points.

Fred VanVleet led the Raptors with 27 points, but without much firepower anywhere else, the Raptors couldn’t keep up with the Celtics falling down by as many as 22 points.

With the victory, the Celtics not only extended their win streak, but improved their overall record to 21-7 on the season, the second best record in the NBA behind the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers.

Here are three takeaways from the Boston Celtics Christmas Day victory over the Toronto Raptors.

Kemba leads the 3-point attack

The Boston Celtics as a team was on fire from beyond the arc making 14 3-pointers in the game.

Much of that hot shooting was from the combination of Kemba Walker and Jaylen Brown who combined for 10 of the 14 3s.  With each player making 5 threes on Christmas, some history was made as Walker and Brown became the first pair of teammates to each drain five 3-points in a Christmas Day game.

Both players certainly set the tone for the game in leading the Celtics to the 118-102 victory over the Toronto Raptors but it really is the ability of Kemba Walker to defer to the other players on the team, while picking his spots to shine that is making this marriage between him and the Celtics both work and continue to grow.

As a player who just wants to win, having players like Gordon Hayward, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum on the court is allowing him to be more of a facilitator in helping the team win in more ways than just his hot shooting.

In all, Kemba Walker scored 22 points in the game, but shots like this just show how lethal he is when he has the hot hand:

https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1209891584596045824

Walker ended up with just 4 assists in the game, but his hot shooting helped free up other players on the court and that is where the All-Star guard is becoming most valuable for the 2019-20 version of the Boston Celtics.

Hayward battles through injury frustration

Gordon Hayward was slotted to return to the court on Christmas Day and he did play, but his return was not due to the hand injury he suffered, but of a nagging foot injury.

The frustration prior to Wednesday’s game against the Toronto Raptors was that Hayward actually came back quicker than projected from the fractured hand but has been dealing with nagging foot pain that hasn’t been getting better with rest.

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A concern?  Most definitely.

Although no structural damage has been found, sometimes the worst issues a player can deal with is when that issue is unknown and therefore becomes hard to treat.

Now, Gordon Hayward was back on the court to help his team to a 118-102 win over the Raptors but expressed a lot of that frustration prior to suiting up on Christmas Day.

"“I was super frustrated,” Hayward said, via Masslive.com.  “I broke my hand and this was a different issue that, when I wasn’t playing, you would think I could figure it out.  My hand was broke.  The fact that (the foot) was getting worse was frustrating everybody.  We were calling around the country trying to figure it out.  Hopefully we did.”"

On the court, Hayward played well and looked like the player he was prior to the hand injury and foot ailment.  He scored 14 points in 26 minutes with 5 rebounds and 6 assists.  More importantly, he was efficient from the field shooting 6-for-9 from the field.

Let’s hope the foot injury doesn’t become something that continues to hold him back as the season moves forward.

If it does, it looks like the Boston Celtics will be doing a lot of load management when it comes to Gordon Hayward.

With the play of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, they certainly can afford to do so.

Jaylen Brown delivers his own gift

While Boston Celtics fans got a gift with the 118-102 Christmas Day victory over the Toronto Raptors, Jaylen Brown delivered his own gift with the 30-point performance that helped propel his team to victory.

In his fourth year in the NBA, Brown has never won a game in Toronto.

Well, that wish came true on Wednesday as the 23-year-old wing made some franchise history by becoming the youngest player to drop 30 points on Christmas Day.

In surpassing the great Bill Russell in the process, Jaylen Brown continues to be on the rise towards super stardom, which makes the contract he signed prior to the 2019-20 NBA season quite the bargain.

Along with dropping 30 points (10-of-13 from the field, 5-of-7 from behind the arc), six rebounds and four assists, what really stood out about Brown is how versatile and confident he has become on the offensive side of the basketball.

Here is an example of that:

He is really becoming a reliable source offensively and that is something Jaylen Brown attributes to his aggressive approach with the ball in his hands.

"“I was just trying to be efficient,” Brown said following the game, via Celtics.com.  “I think that was the goal – just being aggressive but trying to make every shot.  No wasted motion.  It was good to get a win here on Christmas.  I’d never won here, period, so it was great to get one.”"

The Raptors were shorthanded, but it was good to see Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics come out and take care of business.  Along with Brown making his All-Star bid on National television, the Celtics continue to prove to the Eastern Conference that they are a real threat.