• As anticipated series openers go, this one was a dud: The Raptors and Celtics entered the Eastern Conference semifinals white hot. Boston was the only one that stayed that way, beating Toronto 112-94 in Sunday's Game 1. The Celtics led wire-to-wire, building a 19-point first half lead that Toronto couldn’t recover from. Jayson Tatum (21 points) and Marcus Smart (21) led the way, two of six Boston players in double-figures. On August 7, the Celtics shellacked the Raptors by 22. They nearly matched that on Sunday
What happened to Toronto? The Raps have a history of playing poorly in Game 1’s, but this was ugly.