Josh Richardson admitted after his first handful of minutes Sunday, he needed to ask Celtics coach Ime Udoka to take him out. It was understandable: Richardson just came back from his bout with the flu.
He was playing in his first game in more than a week, since the Thunder game on Nov. 20. Richardson noted how hard he played, so it was only natural for him to feel exhausted after the recent blank.
But Richardson and the Celtics’ depth were key as they held off the Raptors 109-97 on Sunday in Toronto. Guys like Richardson, Marcus Smart, Grant Williams and others provided a spark when the Celtics needed it.
While Jayson Tatum slugged through another shooting drought — minus his sparkling playmaking — the supporting Celtics more than picked up the burden. With different guys cycling in and out of the injury report, Udoka said it’s an “invaluable” experience for the depth pieces to figure out their roles and contribute.
“That’s been big,” Udoka said of the depth. “We’ve been mixing and matching lineups all season ... and just plug those holes and guys step up and play well. We haven’t had a lot of continuity, it’s a constant lineup changing every other night. And it’s something we have to deal with until we’re healthy, finally, and can get our whole group out there.”
It was Smart who set the tone early in the second half, when the Celtics were still jostling against the Raptors. He hit an early bucket, which was a glimpse of how he excelled the rest of the way.
After hitting just 1-for-8 shots in the first half, Smart flipped the script: He was 6-for-8 (4-for-6 3-pointers) in the second half, putting up 16 points, five rebounds and five assists. He was at his best offensively, which helped when his outside shot fell.
Then the cast filled in. Richardson had 18 points in his return; Grant Williams had 15 points on seven shots; Enes Kanter had nine points and 10 rebounds in spot minutes; Romeo Langford had five points and eight rebounds. The other starters, Al Horford (17 points and 11 rebounds) and Jaylen Brown (16 points), chipped in as part of a balanced attack.
“My teammates do a good job of continuously believing and trusting one another and in me — and I just have to stay ready,” Smart said. “Continuously work. Everybody on this team works on their shot. Nobody has been shooting the ball very well this season, probably a couple guys. So we just have to stay ready, stay positive, stay confident.”
So even if Tatum went 2-for-16 from the field, the Celtics dispatched the Raptors by double-digits anyway. Tatum, of course, gets some credit for a season-high 10 assists, including five in the fourth quarter.
The Celtics impressed, too, as they got to the free-throw line 31 times Sunday. That allowed them to keep pace with the fast-break Raptors even when Boston’s field goals weren’t falling.
“We’ve encouraged everybody to get more downhill,” Udoka said. “... The refs were calling it pretty close, we got to the bonus early and, when we get in the bonus, we always talk about going into attack mode and attacking the basket and trying to draw fouls.”
It was a huge game for the Celtics on Sunday as the league-worst fourth-quarter team came out with a building-block performance. A 9-0 run built a double-digit lead, which the Celtics didn’t falter down the stretch.
There was some concern when the Raptors threatened to make a run. But the Celtics didn’t yield an inch as they smoothly carried their lead to the finish line. That’s a massive credit to the depth pieces as guys like Richardson (plus-23), Kanter (plus-18) and Romeo Langford (plus-15), who played well in spurts.
“A night like tonight everybody else had to step up — especially with Jayson not shooting it as well,” Udoka said. “He still got rid of the ball, made the right plays and we’ll live with that. If he’s drawing the crowd and trusting his guys, those numbers are going to come from our bench guys and the role players.”
The Celtics earned a victory before arguably the toughest stretch of their season. Their next 10 games — which includes a five-game West Coast swing — are all against teams who made the playoffs last season.
Boston has hovered around the .500 mark about a quarter of the way into the season. With such a daunting stretch ahead, the Celtics need all the juice they can muster as they prepare to prove their worth in the East.
“We talked about it in the timeout,” Udoka said. “I think when we went up 13, they called a timeout, we said, ‘We’ve been here,’ a few times in this game with double-digit leads and throughout the season. This time let’s keep our foot on the gas and keep doing what got us here.”
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