The Celtics got thoroughly outplayed by the Raptors last night. Let’s look at some of the key factors behind what happened:
The Cs got basically every call, and it didn’t matter.
Through the entire game, the Celtics had a marked advantage in terms of refereeing. Which is immensely odd, because Tony Brothers was one of the officials, but the facts don’t lie: Boston players were only called for 17 fouls compared to Toronto’s 32.
And…it didn’t mean a god damn thing. If you’re gonna get that much of a gimme from the refs, you can’t afford to miss eight of the 36 free-throw attempts that disparity permits you, particularly when you’re not shooting particularly well.