Celtics 106 Raptors 90
HARTFORD, Conn. — Ray Allen returned to the arena he once called home and played in front of his college coach. The result was the same.
Paul Pierce scored 17 points and Kevin Garnett added 16 to lead the Boston Celtics to a 106-90 pre-season victory over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night at the XL Center.
UConn coach Jim Calhoun was in attendance and received an ovation when he was shown on the large video board above the court.
“I bet you he felt out place,” Allen said. “Just sitting there, he could relax.”
Allen had eight points, six rebounds and four assists. He made his only field goal in the opening seconds of the third quarter and set up Garnett for a jumper that gave Boston its first double-digit lead, 72-62.
“The whole time I was shooting, I was just thinking about seeing the student section,” said Allen, who went 26-0 in Hartford while playing for UConn. “This is a building in my mind that was always blue and white.”
Chris Bosh had 21 points for the Raptors (2-2). Jose Calderon had 12 points, while Andrea Bargnani added six points and seven rebounds.
Toronto’s key off-season acquisition Hedo Turkoglu played 22 minutes in his pre-season debut, finishing with six points and five assists.
The game marked the Celtics’ first appearance in Hartford since a pre-season game in 1995. Prior to then, the Celtics played three regular season games a year in the arena formerly known as the Civic Center.
Glen Davis added 13 points for the Celtics (4-1).