Celtics vs. Toronto 2nd quarter

[Snoopy the Celtics Beagle]

Wow.  For all the strum und drang about how much better Toronto 
supposedly was, the Celtics seem to be playing them pretty even so 
far.  Personally, I don't think the Raptors are all that great.  the 
probable reality is the two teams are pretty close, with the C's on 
the way up and the Raps on the way, well...down.

Again, my comments are based entirely on the NBA.com readout, so I 
don't quite have the feel of the way the players are tonight.  Still 
some things do stand out statistically.

Turnovers--When you're on a pace to commit 40 turnovers in a game, 
you'd better hope the other team has a bad offensive night. the C's 
must hope this, or take MUCH better care of the ball in the 2nd 
half.  Though it's possible it's more a matter of the refs calling 
some things more heavily against the C's than last night.

Free throws--it's an UNCONTESTED shot, for crying out loud!  Good 
Grief.  when you shoot 76% at the free throw line, something is 
WRONG.  I might be tempted to blame the compost ball, but the fact 
is, Pierce aside, the C's free throw shooting was pretty bad with the OLD ball.

The FG percentage is in our favor--barely, with the Raptor's relative 
success at the free throw line negated by the Celtics better shooting 
from the field, especially the three.

Withe the Good Guys holding a halftime lead of 52-51, a great deal 
will depend on the C's play in the second half.  As I had wanted, 
Pierce played a bit less in the second quarter, but still more than I 
like 2 games into preseason.  Scalabrinie looks like a waste of 
playing time, though I think Olowokandi still needs to prove 
himself.  That's one of those things you have to see to have a feel for.

It does look like Telfair's doing a better job tonight, but again, 
purely speculative.

Onward to the second half!!

Snoopy the Celtics Beagle
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