Celtics shooters go cold, fall to Raptors in preseason finale: 10 takeaways

The Celtics finished their preseason with a loss to the Raptors on Tuesday.

The Celtics finally cooled off a bit from behind the arc and dropped their final game of the preseason to the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday, falling 119-118.

Here are 10 takeaways.

1. Describing the final moments of a close preseason game feels a little silly, but the Celtics and Raptors went back and forth down the stretch, which made for an entertaining finish.

With three minutes remaining, the Raptors led by seven, but JD Davison started pulling the Celtics back to within striking distance with a four-point play when former Celtic Bruno Fernando closed out tightly and knocked him down. Davison then generated four trips to the free-throw line, which resulted in three points and helped trim the deficit down to two, and Fernando committed an offensive foul, gifting the Celtics the ball back.

That set the stage for two clutch plays by end-of-the-bench guys who impressed during the preseason.

The first was by Jordan Walsh who, with the shot clock winding down, drove by Jahmi’us Ramsey for a layup. Walsh’s long legs served him well — when he got Ramsey on his hip, he simply took two huge steps, which took him all the way to the rim.

The Raptors made a pair of free throws to reclaim the lead, but Davison wasn’t done. He dribbled into a difficult step-back triple with 26 seconds left and buried it.

The wheels, however, came off in the final 12 seconds. Davison committed a bad reach-in foul on Raptors guard D.J. Carton, who made both free throws to give the Raptors the lead. On the final play, Walsh drove to the basket once again, where he couldn’t quite finish over Raptors 7-footer Branden Carlson, and the Celtics were (finally) defeated.

Davison played 5:11, all at the end of the fourth quarter, and scored 12 points. He also recorded a block and a steal.

2. The Celtics started the game ice-cold from three — 2-for-12 in the first quarter and 9-for-23 overall, and they trailed by 19 after the first 12 minutes. Then they outscored the Raptors by 20 in the second quarter, going 8-for-15 from deep to take a one-point lead into the break. Then they cooled back down again, finishing 8-for-28 from behind the arc in the second half.

Even the Celtics aren’t immune to the occasional bad shooting night, but Tuesday’s game was a reminder that they can remain competitive even if the 3-pointers aren’t falling.

3. Al Horford returned to the floor for the first time since confetti fell from the TD Garden rafters in June, and he did very little. He went 1-for-6 from the field, 0-for-4 from three, and a staggering -29 in the box score (which was a product of when he played more than anything).

Interestingly, Horford started the game alongside Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard (who started in place of the absent Jrue Holiday). Much has been made of Luke Kornet’s potential to start until Kristaps Porzingis returns (and perhaps notably, Kornet was 5-for-5 with 10 points and five rebounds in 21 minutes), but with Horford available again, the Celtics started him.

There are a lot of reasons to start Kornet (he’s good with the starters, he plays within his role, that might help the Celtics keep Horford’s minutes down, etc.), but the final starting verdict in Porzingis’ absence might simply come down to the fact that Horford is also (obviously) very good with the starters, and he has more than earned that role if he wants it.

4. Lonnie Walker did not play in the finale, which might put to bed the debate about whether the Celtics will sign him to a guaranteed contract.

Walker is, of course, overqualified for the role the Celtics would be offering if he joined their roster full time, which is part of what makes his situation so awkward. Assuming he heads to the G-League for the time being, he will be wildly overqualified for that role as well.

But bringing Walker on board and adding eight figures to a luxury tax bill that already threatens to bring down a dynasty next season just for a player who would land somewhere between 10 and 12 in the depth chart probably doesn’t make a lot of sense either.

5. Jordan Walsh finished 2-for-6 from the floor, but he was very disruptive as a defender, and his two baskets were the aforementioned clutch layup and another nice-looking 3-pointer.

Walsh was also part of the Celtics’ first group of substitutes. He entered the game for Pritchard alongside Xavier Tillman at the 6:50 mark in the first quarter.

Of course, that was partly because Sam Hauser and Jrue Holiday didn’t play; Horford, Pritchard, and Hauser would be the first subs on a normal evening. But it still seemed notable that when the Celtics started dipping into their depth chart, Walsh was the next man up. He may have earned a significant promotion from last year.

6. Jaylen Brown had a great preseason, but Tuesday’s game was not a high point. He finished 6-for-15 from the floor and 0-for-5 from deep, with three ugly turnovers.

He did operate out of the post frequently once again, which suggests playing out of the post is a clear point of emphasis for Brown as the regular season approaches.

7. Tatum attempted 13 3-pointers on Tuesday, the first truly high-volume test run of his new-and-improved shooting form. It’s unclear whether the volume was on purpose or simply a result of Tatum taking what the defense gave him, but he shot 5-for-13 (an acceptable 38.5 percent). The quicker release helped him get off some contested looks, and he made several of them.

Tatum also packed this poster dunk in on Fernando:

8. Toronto’s Scottie Barnes had a very green light and went 5-for-9 from 3-point range. Barnes obviously won’t shoot 55 percent for the season, but if he can continue to improve on last year’s 34.1 percent total, he makes the Raptors a lot more interesting.

9. Xavier Tillman missed all three of his 3-point attempts, which brought his 3-point numbers for the preseason back down to a sizzling 54.5 percent. Like Barnes, we would assume Tillman won’t shoot that amount for the season, but if he can get into the mid-30s, that makes a big difference for the Celtics.

10. The preseason, mercifully, is over. Real NBA hoops begin in one week when the Knicks take on the Celtics at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 22.

Make sure to tune in if you want to see the Celtics get some jewelry.