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3 studs, 3 duds from Celtics 115-111 preseason win over Raptors
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3 studs, 3 duds from Celtics 115-111 preseason win over Raptors

BOSTON – In their final preseason game at TD Garden this season, the Boston Celtics completely defeated the Toronto Raptors (until the fourth quarter). Scottie Barnes seemed invisible as his team was beaten by a Boston team that put Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, Luke Kornet and Xavier Tillman on the bench.

Boston cruised to a 115-111 victory as its relievers and G League prospects enjoyed a longer run. The Raptors rallied in the fourth, but Boston dominated for most of the evening. The Celtics will travel to Toronto on Tuesday night for a home game against the Raptors, who will certainly be hoping for a different result in this game. But with Horford already confirmed to be playing, they could be facing an even better version of the Celtics.

Here are three guys and three duds from the Celtics’ stunning preseason win over the Raptors on Sunday night.

Note: Payton Pritchard was the best player on the floor in this game. He was too good for that stallion and dud list – the King Stud, if you will. To highlight other players who won’t play as much in the regular season, he was left off the list.

From the moment the game started, Jordan Walsh was great, and it didn’t all show in the score. Sure, he hit his shots well, grabbed some rebounds and hit Lonnie Walker IV for a three-pointer. But it was less about the statistics themselves and more about how he collected them.

Walsh’s three-pointer in the first quarter was the result of a quick off-ball cut. His rebounds were pure hustle and positioning. His assist came from an attacking board and he shot the ball past several defenders. On defense, he was constantly talking, pointing, moving and communicating with his teammates. And he looks as confident as ever on his three-point shot.

The 20-year-old who played in Summer League is dead. This is a whole new version of Walsh. Everything about his game looks more fluid, more focused and more confident.

He finished the game with 16 points, 10 rebounds, one assist and one steal while shooting 6 of 12 from the floor and 1 of 4 from deep.

This is the type of performance Boston should expect from Walsh as he continues to develop.

The rookie just can’t seem to catch a break. For the second straight preseason game, Baylor Scheierman makes the dud list. He just didn’t come close to finding a rhythm in the preseason.

Every shot he takes looks strange, and it always looks like he’s trying to get into the right position. The speed of the NBA seems to be a bit too much for him at the moment. On Sunday, he shot 0 of 6 from the floor, including 0 of 5 from three-point range.

A year in Maine should be very helpful for Brad Stevens’ first-round pick.

After a tough two-game stint in Abu Dhabi, Lonnie Walker IV completely turned things around. On Saturday evening against the Philadelphia 76ers he demonstrated his ability and on Sunday against the Toronto Raptors he was a real hit.

In Boston’s two games against the Denver Nuggets, it looked like Walker was trying to force the issue, but that wasn’t the case on Sunday. He played in the flow of the attack, let the shots come to him and was rewarded for it. Walker finished the night with 20 points and one assist while shooting 8 of 15 from the floor and 4 of 9 from deep.

While it’s still unlikely that Walker will make Boston’s regular-season roster, he has put himself in a good position to land a contract with another squad. Or at least be a top player in Maine.

The Celtics acquired Dmytro Skapintsev via a G League trade with the Westchester Knicks. Unfortunately, he was very unproductive in his preparation minutes with the team.

Skapintsev has a strong presence on the edge and has recorded a few fun blocks, but he is very immobile. He struggles with his positioning at times and is cornered by faster perimeter players. On offense, his touch around the basket needs some serious work, and as the game gets faster, he finds it difficult to adjust. And he’s also not a particularly good rebounder for his size (2.10 meters).

There should definitely be a spot for him in Maine this year, especially since Kylor Kelley is no longer with the team, but he doesn’t look like a guy who could compete for a contract in Boston any time soon.

Last year, Drew Peterson joined the team midway through the season on a two-way contract. He packed on some muscle over the summer and now he’s back in town for another two-way stint. He looked great on Sunday night.

When he joined the team last year he looked like a three-point specialist, but he has proven he is so much more. Both in Abu Dhabi and on Sunday night against the Raptors, Peterson demonstrated impressive creative skills by putting the ball on the floor and making his own plays.

His stats were great (23 points, three rebounds, three assists, one steal, 6/9 FG, 3/5 3PT), but what stood out most was his fluidity of play, his comfort and his hustle on both ends. Peterson has the talent to compete for a spot on the roster within the next year or two.

This was a downright embarrassing game for the Raptors. They started Barnes, Jakob Poeltl, Gradey Dick, Ochai Agbaji and Davion Mitchell (one of whom was an All-Star last year) and were beaten by the Celtics, who benched their entire starting lineup.

Pritchard made them look like a G League squad, and even when they found some momentum, they lost it through stupid mistakes. They fouled at the end of the quarter, threw the ball away from their teammates and were destroyed in the pick-and-roll. Their training camp guys held them back a bit in the final frame, but it was still an ugly, ugly night for the Toronto players who will lead this team in the regular season.

It could be a very long year for Toronto.

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