Celtics square off against the Toronto Raptors

By Sam Coombs

Portland Maine was an exciting and energetic place to be Wednesday night when they got to welcome the NBA’s Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors to town for a preseason game at the newly renovated Cross Insurance Arena. The likes of some of the NBA’s brightest stars past and present were in the building from Rajon Rondo and Demar Derozan, to Danny Ainge and Cedric Maxwell.

The game was intense, had offensive streaks from both teams and came down to the last shot. The Raptors Lou Williams hit a deep 3pt shot in the face of Avery Bradley with less than a second remaining to win the game 92-89. Before this Bradley tied the game with a mid- range jump shot with eight seconds to go which fired up the crowd and the Celtics players.
“The atmosphere was great, just wish we could have got these fans in Portland a win”, said Boston Celtics Head Coach Brad Stevens. “Its great to play in a lot of the places in New England that follow the Celtics and have for a long time.”
This game was the first action of the season for Celtics starter Jeff Green who is coming off an injury. Green saw a lot of action to get his feet under him in this game and the fans of Maine were grateful to see Green play. “Jeff got poked in the eye in the first quarter but besides that looked good physically. It was his first game and these exhibitions will be a good chance for Jeff to get into game shape,” said Stevens.

Marcus Smart, Tyler Zeller and Marcus Thornton are three new players to the Celtics this season and all had strong games off the bench. Smart, this year’s 6th overall pick in the draft finished with 11pts, 3 steals, and had great energy. Zeller had a breakout game shooting 6-6 from the field with 12pts, and Thornton led the Celtics with 17pts, and 3 steals. All three of these players will be key to the Celtics success this regular season.

Overall, despite the loss, this preseason game was a success. It brought Celtics basketball back to Portland for the first time in 20 years and gave Celtics fans in Maine a great opportunity to see some of their favorite players play. Another highlight was bringing awareness to the community about the Maine Red Claws and the collaboration work they do with the Boston Celtics and showing that fans have the opportunity to see professional basketball all year right here in Portland, Maine
The Boston Celtics open up the regular season on October 29th home at the TD Garden against the Brooklyn Nets at 7:30. The Maine Red Claws open their home season on November 21st at 7:00 against the Canton Charge.