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The Boston Celtics hosted the Toronto Raptors on Saturday night in another entertaining preseason game at TD Garden.
A solid night of 3-point shooting propelled the C’s to a 113-111 victory that takes them to 2-0 in the preseason. They succeeded nearly 50 percent of their 3-point attempts (19 for 40) and shot 46.9 percent from the field.
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The Raptors didn’t fall without a fight, tying the game twice in the final 30 seconds. Boston eventually managed to seal the victory with a pair of clutch free throws from Juancho Hernangomez.
Here are some takeaways from the second of the Celtics’ four preseason games.
Romeo Langford replaces Jaylen Brown well
We likely won’t see Jaylen Brown until the Celtics’ regular season opener on October 20 due to health and safety protocols. The All-Star Wing tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.
Romeo Langford was Brown’s replacement in the C’s starting lineup on Saturday night and he took the opportunity. The third-year goaltender had 13 points in 19 minutes, hitting five of his six shots and going 3 for 4 to 3 points.
The performance comes just days after going through a 3-point green light against the Magic with 14.2 seconds remaining.
Could we overreact to a few meaningless preseason games? Sure. But Langford adds a new dimension to this year’s Celtics squad if he can find consistency in shooting basketball. The fact that he was able to impress in this category after being propelled into a starting role should inspire some optimism as the new season approaches.
Jayson Tatum shows off his playmaking skills
For the Celtics to bounce back from a less than stellar 2021-22 campaign, stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will need to do a better job of getting their teammates involved.
Tatum has shown he is more than capable of doing it.
The double All-Star finished with 20 points and nine rebounds, but his seven assists were what blew the box away. He was in sync with his teammates throughout the game and was one of the main reasons Boston was so effective with their opportunities.
Tatum was taken out of the game in the third quarter, but not before he found his three-point shot.
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As a team, the Celtics collected 29 assists from 38 baskets.
Al Horford looks sharp
Horford didn’t look like a 35-year-old tall man in Saturday’s preseason. As he prepares for his second stint in Boston, the veteran moves like he hasn’t aged since leaving the C’s in 2019.
Horford did a bit of everything in the win, finishing with 16 points (4-4 from beyond the arc) to go with three rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal.
In related news, C head coach Ime Udoka went with the double starting lineup with Horford and Robert Williams. It seemed to be working well, which was an encouraging sign for the versatility of the team.
Turnover, turnover, turnover
As they escaped with the win, the Celtics have a lot to clean up before the games start to count. The turnovers were a killer, and that was a problem all along as they walked into the locker room with 11 of them.
It wasn’t any nicer in the second half as Horford and Tatum had a pair of ugly turnovers to start the third quarter. Even though we just got excited about Tatum’s playing ability, he also returned the ball six times. The team finished with a whopping 23 overall.
They will look to improve in this area on Wednesday when they visit the Orlando Magic. Boston’s third preseason game kicks off at 7 p.m. ET.
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