Follow Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter VI Mobile College Basketball March Mayhem Picks College Basketball March Mayhem Picks VegasInsider.com VegasInsider.com
Handicapper Bios Sports Picks Free Odds Contests Sportsbook
Sports Betting Home NFL NBANHLMLBNCAA FBNCAA BKGolfAutoHorsesBoxingVI More Sports
 
NBA Scores Matchups Teams Standings Schedules Injuries News
 
 · Latest News
 · Player Updates
 · Transactions
Buy Picks Vegas Odds
 
 · Vegas Odds
 · Offshore Odds
 · Future Odds
 
Recap: Celtics , Raptors
Date: February 10, 2012 7:00 PM EDT
  

TORONTO (AP) - Celtics coach Doc Rivers called his team's play ``awful' after Thursday's overtime loss to the Lakers. Friday's loss at Toronto kept his mood dismal.

DeMar DeRozan scored 21 points, Jose Calderon had 17 points and 14 rebounds and the Raptors led wire-to-wire in beating Boston 86-74, just their third win in the past 20 meetings with the Celtics.

Advertisement

``I was really frustrated with our execution,' Rivers said. ``We couldn't even run a play out of a timeout. That's just frustrating. That's focus or something. We have to fix that, because we've been playing too well for this to go back down that road again.

``We'd kind of worked out all our kinks and then, all of a sudden the last couple of games, it's returned out of nowhere.'

Rivers, who lambasted his players during one first quarter timeout, huddled with his staff outside the locker room for several minutes after the game.

Asked whether Sunday's home game against league-leading Chicago could be the tonic to get his team back on track, Rivers didn't think so.

``The way we played the last two games, we need to be in a gym running,' Rivers said.

The Celtics scored 75 or fewer points for just the third time in franchise history and the first time since Jan. 12, 2001, when they had 72.

Amir Johnson had 12 points and 12 rebounds and Aaron Gray matched a season high with 11 rebounds as the Raptors avenged a 100-64 loss at Boston on Feb. 1, their worst defeat of the season. James Johnson scored 14 for Toronto.

``We knew they had a back-to-back with the Lakers,' Amir Johnson said. ``Our strategy was just to come in and hit them in the mouth.'

The Raptors, who snapped a three-game losing streak, had lost five of six coming in. They were treated to a rare standing ovation from the crowd of 19,207 in the final minute.

``I don't even remember the last time we beat Boston,' Calderon said. ``They're always beating on us.'

Kevin Garnett scored 17 points, Paul Pierce had 12 and Brandon Bass had 10 for the Celtics, who were without center Jermaine O'Neal because he had a sore left shoulder.

Ray Allen scored just six points and Rajon Rondo had only five. The pair combined to shoot 5-for-18.

``You can't take anything positive away from this game,' Rondo said. ``You've just got to move on.'

The Celtics, who had won nine of ten before Thursday's defeat, dropped back-to-back games for the first time since a five-game skid from Jan. 6-16.

``We just didn't show the mental toughness tonight,' Pierce said. ``We feel like we're getting so close to being the team we want to be and the to take a couple of steps back is definitely frustrating. These are games we're supposed to win.'

Trailing 63-51, to begin the fourth, the Celtics were unable to mount a serious comeback. Allen's jumper cut it to 77-69 with 3:35 left, but Linas Kleiza answered with a 3-pointer. And after Garnett made one of two from the line to trim the deficit to 81-72 with two minutes left, Calderon hit a step-back 3 to push the lead back to 12.

``By the time the fourth quarter came they made shots and we couldn't stop them,' Allen said.

Toronto started strong, using a pair of running dunks by James Johnson and Calderon's alley-oop pass to DeRozan to open an 18-7 lead with 4:30 left in the opening quarter. DeRozan had nine points in the first, Calderon and Johnson had eight each as Toronto led 26-14 after one.

Boston made six turnovers in the first, but also had Rivers fuming after failing to inbound the ball on one possession, forcing a timeout. Rivers yelled angrily at his team in the huddle before stomping back to the bench to let the players sort themselves out.

``In a way, (Thursday) night's loss kind of lingered on to this loss today,' Rondo said. ``It's a different story if we won.'

The Celtics closed the gap in the second, when Toronto made just four of 15 field goal attempts, but still trailed 41-34 at the break. Allen and Rondo combined for only two points in the first half, missing seven of eight shots.

The Raptors pulled away again in the third with DeRozan feeding Amir Johnson for an alley-oop to make it 61-45 with 3:52 left, matching their biggest lead of the game. Boston trailed 63-51 heading into the fourth.

NOTES: DeRozan has scored 20 or more in three of his past four games. ... The loss snapped Boston's season-high three-game road winning streak. ... Celtics G Avery Bradley (right shoulder) and F Sasha Pavlovic (left wrist) sat out for the second straight game. ... The Raptors are 7-2 this season when leading at the half. ... Toronto G Jerryd Bayless was unavailable after leaving Wednesday's loss to Milwaukee with a sore left ankle.

AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

Copyright 2013
The Associated Press
All Rights Reserved

 BETTING TRENDS
 Team  ML   SPR   O/U 
 BOS  89%   76%   86% 
 TOR  11%   24%   14% 
BT MOVEMENTS

 NBA HEAD TO HEAD
 Dec 21, 2011  Score  ATS Results 
  TOR 73 Under: 155 
  BOS « 82 Cover: 3.5 
 Tools:   Recaps
 Dec 18, 2011  Score  ATS Results 
  BOS « 76 Under: 151 
  TOR 75 Cover: 4 
 Tools:   Recaps
 Jan 2, 2011  Score  ATS Results 
  BOS « 93 Cover: 8 
  TOR 79 Under: 172 
 Tools:   Recaps

 
 
  
GOLD Membership
Over 150 Member Plays free each month. Signup Today!
 
 

NFL
NFL Sports Picks
NFL Vegas Odds
NFL Online Odds
NFL Matchups
NFL Scores

More Sports
Golf
Auto Racing
Horse Racing
Boxing
WNBA

MLB
MLB Sports Picks
MLB Vegas Odds
MLB Online Odds
MLB Matchups
MLB Scores

Features
Free Odds
Contests
Newsletters
VI Radio
Las Vegas Travel
Follow us on Twitter
Add us on Google+
Join us on Facebook

NBA
NBA Sports Picks
NBA Vegas Odds
NBA Online Odds
NBA Matchups
NBA Scores

Sports Betting Tools
Live Odds
Mobile Odds
Parlay Calculator
Gaming Terms
TV Listings
Handicapping Records
Sports Betting
About Sports Betting
Sportsbook Reviews

NHL
NHL Sports Picks
NHL Vegas Odds
NHL Online Odds
NHL Matchups
NHL Scores

VegasInsider Info
About Us
Help Center
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
Refund Policy
Contact Us
User Feedback

College Football
NCAA FB Sports Picks
NCAA FB Vegas Odds
NCAA FB Online Odds
NCAA FB Matchups
NCAA FB Scores

Sportsbooks
CarbonSports · Review
SportBet · Review
Sportsbook · Review
TopBet.eu · Review

College Basketball
NCAA BK Sports Picks
NCAA BK Vegas Odds
NCAA BK Online Odds
NCAA BK Matchups
NCAA BK Scores

Rotation Schedules
Baseball: Mar 31 - June 02

Copyright © 1997-2013, VegasInsider.com Inc., The Global Leader In Sports Gaming Information. All rights reserved.
For questions or comments, please contact us at 1-800-211-4759.