Semi Ojeleye scores career-best 24 as Celtics down Raptors
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With Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker and Jaylen Brown playing alongside, it is very rare that another player snaps the spotlight. It happened in the Celtics’ most recent matchup against the Raptors, where young Semi Ojeleye knocked his career best 24-points to help his team cruise past to victory. The Boston Celtics haven’t been in consistent form since the start of the 2020-21 season. But such performances are surely to boost their morale.
Rookie Payton Pritchard added 20 points and had a career-high six 3s to help Boston snap a two-game skid. The Celtics never trailed and led by as many as 19, thanks in part to a season-high 20 3-pointers. Leading scorers Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown deferred to their teammates from the outset as they drew attention from Toronto’s defenders.
Semi Ojeleye leads Boston Celtics past Toronto Raptors
Kyle Lowry led the Raptors with 24 points and six assists. Pascal Siakam finished with 23 points for Toronto, which was coming off a win at Washington a night earlier.
Toronto cut what had been a 15-point deficit to 98-93 with 6:21 remaining. But the Celtics used a 15-5 run to take control down the stretch. The Raptors played without OG Anunoby for the ninth straight game but still managed to dominate in the paint, where they outscored the Celtics 58-32.
In Toronto’s prior loss, last week at Atlanta, the Raptors also allowed their opponent to shoot more than 50% from 3-point range. The Raptors finished their trip at 4-2 but missed out on a chance to get back to .500 following a 2-8 start to the season.
“I feel pretty good. Trending upward, playing really good basketball,” Raptors Coach Nick Nurse said. “We weathered some storms and came back. We’ve got a lot of room for improvement. We’ve got some time to get better.”
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Yakshpat Bhargava
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