Boston Celtics (9-3) at Toronto Raptors (4-9), 13:00 Boston Celtics will try to recover from their first home defeat of the season Sunday when they open a brief two-game road trip north border, with the aim of its ninth straight victory over the Toronto Raptors. The Celtics, who also visited Atlanta in their short walk, fell to a Kevin Durant-less club to Oklahoma City on Friday in Beantown. Russell Westbrook shook the absence of Durant, who was out with an ankle injury and scored 31 points with six assists in that one, as previously stained Thunder Boston perfect 5-0 home record with a 89-84 victory. Rajon Rondo had 14 points and a season-low seven assists for the Celtics, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. Rondo had 10 or more assists in nine straight games and had not registered under nine all season. He suffered a left thigh injury in the fourth quarter and sat the final 4 1 / 2 minutes of the game. Kevin Garnett, despite taking an elbow to the head in the first quarter with 16 points while Paul Pierce had 14 in defeat. "Just do not come with the mindset from the beginning," said Pierce. "I think we kind of got into the game, and then once you got into it, we were trying to claw our way in.
That's what happens when you have a team that is desperate without two of their best players. You give other kids' confidence and you can get surprised by a day in the NBA. " Rondo is adopted game-time decision this afternoon. The Raptors, meanwhile, have been playing better and recently opened a homestand three games to win the fashion on Friday when Andrea Bargnani scored 26 points in 11 of his 17 shots as Toronto beat the Houston Rockets, 106 – 96. DeMar DeRozan added 15 points for the Raptors, who came to win on Wednesday in Philadelphia and recorded only their fourth win of the season. Linas Kleiza scored 17 points to lead Toronto a strong bank. Amir Johnson and Jose Calderon each scored 10 in a reserve role. "That's basically what we have to do to win games, it stops at the defensive end," said Johnson. "If we let into our offense." Off the court, the Raptors to an important agreement on Saturday night, sending the starting point guard Jarrett Jack, backup guard Marcus Banks and reserve center David Andersen in New Orleans for Peja Stojakovic former All -Star and the young guard Jerryd Bayless. Stojakovic, who is making more than $ 14 million in the last year of his contract this season, was dropped from the rotation of the Hornets, while Bayless averaged 4.5 points, but shot 35.0 percent as one of the back up Chris Paul. Calderon, who had time to break with Jack, which is expected to enter the starting lineup. The Raptors finished the homestand against the Sixers on Wednesday. Celtics winning eight of the runs in Toronto is currently the longest against any opponent.
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