With so many players leaving this season, the team had saved a great deal of money on salaries.
The Celtics had put together a much more balanced roster, making major improvements to both their role players and their bench.
On top of that, Jaylen Brown and Tatum could both initiate the offense, and the two worked together seamlessly.
So the Celtics' record this season wasn't much worse than before. They'd won 25 of their first 30 games, losing only five.
That made the Celtics a formidable opponent.
And this game was on the Celtics' home court.
The Celtics' arena was widely known as one of the league's Devil's Home Courts.
Their fans would make noise from start to finish, keeping opposing players from ever settling down.
That was why many stars who played well elsewhere saw their performance dip here.
Only true superstars—players whose competitive fire burned brightest in the toughest environments—could still perform at a high level here.
Being able to maintain a high level of play in a Devil's Home Court was one way to distinguish an ordinary star from a superstar.
Ever since the Raptors' 15-game winning streak, people had kept asking who could stop them.
Now that they'd reached 29 straight wins, the Celtics were the strongest opponent the Raptors had faced in a while.
And the longer a winning streak lasted, the more tightly wound a team's nerves became, and the more exhausting each game felt.
When you looked at teams that had gone on long winning streaks in the past, you could see how much more exhausted their players became as the streak went on.
The Regular Season was a long haul, and you had to know when to push and when to ease up.
If you were tense from the start and never