When the Raptors called a third-quarter timeout Sunday after the Celtics had scored another seemingly effortless basket, Chris Bosh trudged off the court trailing his teammates and cursing quietly to himself.
Bosh, looking as frustrated as he ever has in a Toronto jersey, couldn't salvage what was left of an ugly outing by the Raptors in a one-sided 118-103 loss to the NBA champion Boston Celtics.
[ ] ``I don't know the situation here or what he's going through but tonight he looked pretty frustrated,'' Celtics all-star forward Kevin Garnett said of Bosh after the game. ``When you're a good player and trying to be better, trying to be one of the premiers in this league, trying to set your mark, you want the help around you.
``He has to make a decision on whether he wants to be here.''
Ray Allen scored 21 points to top the Celtics (13-2) in their fifth straight victory, while Rajon Rondo, Garnett and Tony Allen finished with 15 apiece.
Bosh had 24 points and six rebounds to lead the Raptors (6-7), but looked increasingly angry as the game wore on, taking the ball and bouncing it hard off the floor in frustration after one Celtics basket.
The Raptors captain insisted he had already put the loss behind him when he finally emerged from the shower after the game.
``It doesn't matter what happened on the court, we tried, they kicked our butts, look forward to Wednesday,'' Bosh said. ``I've been in worse situations, I'm sure guys on this team have been there too. We're not in a bad spot, we just have to pick it up and continue to push each other and just get it right.
``You guys keep using `frustrating' and everything. It's over. Do we want other teams to shoot like that? No. Do we want to do a better job on defence? Yes. But it happens.''
Jose Calderon had 14 points and nine assists for the Raptors, who played all but 14 minutes without centre Jermaine O'Neal. Andrea Bargnani and Anthony Parker added 14 point apiece.
Two days after an emotionally draining overtime loss to New Jersey, the Raptors got out to a horrible start and trailed by 16 points less than eight minutes into the game. While they managed to cut Boston's lead to four points with a brief burst of energy in the second quarter, the Raptors were never really in the game in what amounted to a big wakeup call delivered by the Eastern Conference-leading Celtics.
The Celtics took a 95-73 lead into the fourth quarter in front of a disgruntled capacity crowd of 19,800 at the Air Canada Centre that booed the Raptors off the court during several timeouts. Toronto showed some life in the fourth, opening with an 8-0 run that cut Boston's lead to 14 points. But that was merely like poking Boston with a big stick as the Celtics were back up by 20 points just three minutes later.
Both teams had their second units on the floor for the final few minutes as Toronto pulled within 12 on a basket by seldom-used Joey Graham, but the game was well over by that point, and many fans had already left the building.
Raptors coach Sam Mitchell pleaded patience after the loss, but said he understood Bosh's frustration.
``Chris and I have been here together for a while and we have been here through tough times,'' Mitchell said. ``You have to remember we are 6-7, there is a lot of basketball to play. It's 13 games into the season and everyone is frustrated, especially coming off a tough loss to Jersey and having a bad performance the way we did today.
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Toronto Raptors vs San Antonio Spurs Dec.20/08by monuow2,507 views
@NYCFadi LOL, I traveled across the country for this game and the Nets double OT 2 nights before... I still enjoyed seeing all those good players
AllEnergy21 5 months ago
i had to f****** watch that game at the acc
NYCFadi 2 years ago
fire sam or their gonna loose bosh forever i feel is starting a hate for this team i hope Bc realizes that when ur franchise players pissed u gotta fix it or ur gonna have another vc
chrome381 3 years ago
Bye Bye Bosh
incognegro75 3 years ago
they need to fyr sam.... he doesnt have lots of plays that owns a team. fire sam and get dat mavs former coach
dotaman24 3 years ago
tha worst game ever, i didnt even watch tha second half, i heard bosh wuz really pissed
ctx60 3 years ago
FIRE SAM!
aznxtin 3 years ago
they started off amazing. now there doing bad :(
TheRealBeeQue 3 years ago
raptors are doing bad this season
davenrai 3 years ago