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You learn from experience and you learn from mistakes.
By that measure, the Toronto Raptors should have doctorate degrees in losing to the Boston Celtics.
The two clubs face off for the fourth and last time during the regular season tonight in Boston, and if form follows the Raptors will become the first NBA team — though not likely the last — to drop four games to the league's newest juggernaut, who sport an NBA-best 30-6 record.
"We're trying to start the second half of the season on a good note and this is a great challenge for us," Raptors forward Chris Bosh said. "They're playing well and we need to work on imposing our will in the game and throughout the four quarters."
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Sounds good in theory but it's been the reverse in the season series so far. The Celtics, bolstered by the ground-eating wizardry of Kevin Garnett, are the NBA's best defensive team, holding opponents to 41.6-per-cent shooting from the field and a measly 30-per-cent shooting from the three-point line.
The Raptors normally shoot 45.4 per cent from the field (15th in the NBA) and 40 per cent from the three-point line, the best percentage from deep in the league. But against Boston, Toronto has shot only 38.5 per cent and 38.3 per cent from the three-point line.
One way Boston disrupts the Raptors so well is by blitzing Toronto's guards when they play their pick-and-roll game, which is most possessions.
The problems start when a Raptors big man, such as Bosh, sets a ball screen for point guard Jose Calderon. The Celtics, like most teams, try to disrupt the screen-and-roll by having Bosh's man show, or jump out, in the path of Calderon, preventing him from going to the basket and ideally forcing the Toronto guard to move sideways, away from the basket.
It's not a novel approach, the difference is Garnett — a seven-footer with the quickness of most six-footers — is so long and active that not only does Calderon have a hard time getting to the basket, he has a hard time finding anyone to pass to.
That effectively jams one of the Raptors' offensive staples. Another issue is that when Bosh plays against most other big men, he requires a double team to be properly covered, which means that somewhere a shooter is open at the three-point line.
Because Garnett can cover Bosh alone better than most players, the Celtics don't have to leave Raptors' shooters open as readily. Moreover, as a team, they are focused on stopping teams from taking three-pointers — particularly a club as reliant on perimeter marksmanship as the Raptors. Again secure in the knowledge that Garnett or the defensive-minded Kendrick Perkins is guarding the basket, their perimeter players sprint at the Raptors' three-point shooters to disrupt their rhythm.
But having seen the Celtics systematically take away their three main offensive weapons, the Raptors hope that they can bring something a little different to the table this time.
"We're going to try and get out and run more," Bosh said. "They're the No.ƒ|1 defensive team in the league, so it would be foolish to play against that in the half court the whole game, so we want to get out and run."
And as for their pick-and-roll game, the Raptors have a plan to improve that, too, by slipping screens — basically going to set the pick but then sliding directly to the basket at the last second, hoping the guard can find an open big man before the defence can react.
"We've been doing a better job slipping the screens lately, so we're going to do that this time, we're going to slip a lot of screens, maybe confuse their bigs a little bit and hopefully get some dump downs and easy layups," Bosh said.
The Raptors also hope they have a counter for the Celtics' tendency to run at their three-point shooters. "They commit early to get you off that three-point line," Toronto coach Sam Mitchell said. "And something we tell our guys if a guy is coming at you out of control, you have to pump fake and step in."
