TORONTO — Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey has talked about the grind of the 82-game schedule and how there will be periods when a team struggles.
The Raptors have been in one of those stretches, losing four in a row before they defeated the Boston Celtics 109-96 on Saturday night.
Casey saw the difference in the way his team worked on defense.
“Our defensive intensity,” he said. “They still shot 47 percent but I thought our defensive mojo was back. I saw guys moving their feet, cracking down, rebounding and doing the things we needed to do with activity and anticipation.”
The Raptors got 19 points and seven assists from starting point guard Kyle Lowry and another 19 points from reserve guard Lou Williams.
Forwards James Johnson and Amir Johnson and center Jonas Valanciunas each scored 15 points for the Raptors and forward Patrick Patterson had 10 points. James Johnson had 10 rebounds and Patterson had nine assists for the Raptors (25-11), who avoided losing five in a row for the first time since Nov. 26 to Dec. 6, 2013.
“They got too many easy baskets,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “We need to play better if we want a chance to win against a team of that caliber in this building.”
Forward Kelly Olynyk, who is from Kamloops, British Columbia, scored 23 points for the Celtics (12-23), who lost their second game in a row.
“They moved the ball well and made a bunch of shots — 3s kill you when they come in multiples,” Olynyk said.
Guard Avery Bradley added 17 points for Boston while forward Jared Sullinger had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Guard Marcus Smart added 12 points and forward Brandon Bass had 10.
The Celtics led 26-19 after the first quarter, getting seven points from Bradley.
The Celtics took a nine-point lead in the second quarter before the Raptors came back to take a 42-40 lead on two free throws by Amir Johnson with 2:17 to play. Toronto led 47-43 at halftime, with Williams scoring nine.
“We just got tired of it,” James Johnson said, when asked about the way his team began to pick it up in the second quarter. “Everybody buckled in, everybody took responsibility for what they were doing and started playing Toronto Raptors defense.”
“We really defended well in the first half, really well,” Stevens said. “We weren’t quite as good in the second half but I thought we stretched out more because we were coming back.”
The Celtics outscored the Raptors 7-2 to open the third quarter, taking a one-point lead.
The Raptors came back to go ahead by 11 with 4:35 to play in the quarter. The lead reached 15 two minutes later on Lowry’s jumper from the corner. Patterson’s 4-foot jumper at the buzzer gave the Raptors an 82-65 lead after three quarters.
“They just blew the game open,” Stevens said. “They’re at a different level right now than we are and we need to look at them as a team that we can learn a lot from.”
“They have guards coming off the bench who can really score,” Olynyk said. “They have a couple of leaders and Kyle Lowry does a great job.”
The Celtics cut the lead to 85-77 with 8:57 to play in the fourth on a putback dunk by Smart.
The Raptors worked the lead back to 14 points on a pair of free throws by Williams. Consecutive 3-pointers by Lowry and Amir Johnson gave the Raptors a 19-point lead with 6:23 to play. Lowry added another 3-pointer to make the lead 100-80.
The Celtics reduced the deficit to 12 points on Sullinger’s 3-pointer.
“I think we just got more defensive-minded and we weren’t really worried about the offensive end,” Lowry said. “We knew that the shots would fall and I think we put a really good emphasis on defense.”