The Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics will not be easing into the second half of the season.  Instead, the pair of Eastern Conference contenders, and budding rivals, will meet Friday night at Air Canada Centre for the fourth time this season, as they continue to jockey for playoff position.

Friday’s game is expected to be the Raptors debut of forward Serge Ibaka, who was acquired just prior to the All-Star Break from the Orlando Magic for Terrence Ross and a first-round pick.

Prior to Thursday’s trade deadline, they also added swingman P.J. Tucker, a player the team selected in the second round of the 2006 NBA Draft, and could possibly also have him to face the Celtics in this pivotal matchup.

The Raptors have won two of the three previous meetings of the teams this season and have done it primarily on the strength of Kyle Lowry’s hot hand.  The All-Star point guard has averaged 30 points and 5.3 assists while shooting 56.0% from the field and 52.0% from the three point line against the Celtics.

On the strength of a 19 point fourth quarter, Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas led his team back for a 109-104 victory on February 1st, the last time the teams met.

 

Raptors v. Celtics 2016-17

 
Date Venue W L Leading scorer
December 9th TD Garden Raptors-101 Celtics-94 Lowry-34
January 10th  Air Canada Centre Raptors-114 Celtics-106 DeRozan-41
February 1st TD Garden Celtics-109 Raptors-104 Thomas-44
 

One interesting thing to note about the three times the Raptors and Celtics have played this season, the team that has led at halftime has gone on to lose the game:

                      Halftime            Final
Dec. 9       BOS led by 8    TOR won by 7
Jan. 10      BOS led by 9    TOR won by 8
Feb. 1       TOR led by 11   BOS won by 5

While the Raptors currently hold the head to head advantage, they have found themselves slipping down the standings, while the Celtics have been trending up.

Since January 18th, the Celtics have posted an 11-5 record that has seen them leap-frog the Raptors into the second seed in the Eastern Conference.  Over that same timeframe, the Raptors have slumped to 5-11 and now sit fourth in the conference behind the Cleveland Cavaliers, Celtics and Washington Wizards.

The drop off in play has been very noticeable for the Raptors, who were second in the East after the first 41 games of the season and have seen all of their offensive numbers dip over the last 16 games.

 

Raptors timeline 2016-17

 
Span W-L PPG FG% 3pt%
First 41 games 28-13 111.5 47.2 39.0
Last 16 games 5-11 100.7 44.2 32.5
 

Meanwhile, the upswing in the play of the Celtics can be traced to Thomas, who has led or co-led Boston in scoring in 21 straight games, setting a new franchise record.

Embedded ImageHe has also contributed at least 20 points in 41 straight games, breaking the franchise record of 40 held by John Havlicek.

Thomas is also averaging 10.7 fourth-quarter points, which is on track to be the highest average in any quarter over the last 20 seasons.

To get back on track, the Raptors will surely turn to their All-Star duo of Lowry and DeRozan; the pair currently combine to be the highest scoring backcourt in the league with a lofty 50.1 PPG.

Embedded Image