Boston Celtics: 3 takeaways from home-opening drubbing against Toronto

Boston Celtics takeaway No. 3) Turnovers galore

In the Boston Celtics home-opening loss to the Toronto Raptors, they had a staggering number of turnovers, with 25 in total, making it the most the Cs have had in a game in 2,543 days.

A game on November 11th, 2014, against… the Toronto Raptors.

It was just sloppy play all night long.

The Raptors had five players who had two or more steals. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum had five turnovers apiece. The Celtics had six more turnovers than they did assists. Just statistic after statistic shows how awful of a night this was for Boston.

Everyone needs to be better, no one gets a pass tonight.

Outside of turnovers, the Celtics shot 39 percent from the floor, and 32 percent from deep. They allowed the most offensive rebounds — with 21 — since April 3rd, 2020. They scored the second-least amount of points in the last three seasons.

In every single aspect you can think of, it was the worst performance the Celtics have had in recent memory.

Glass half-full, that means they can only go up from here! They have a lot to build on, this is a relatively brand-new team and they probably had some tired legs after a double OT game, and had to face an exceptional defensive team.

Not to make excuses, because a loss in this fashion is inexcusable, but there are some positives to a game like this.

It starts with taking better care of the rock. The players can’t be so loose with their handle.

The Celtics ball handlers were stripped countless times in the pick-and-roll. There can be no lackadaisical, time-wasting dribbling for, frankly, defenses are too good for that to be happening.

As we head into Sunday’s game against the Rockets, let’s hope we see a revamped version of the team we just saw.