Jaylen Brown’s 26 points led the way as the Celtics overcame a slow shooting start with a dominant fourth quarter, outscoring the Raptors 35-24 to win their third straight game.
The Boston Celtics looked disinterested for three quarters Today. The fourth quarter told a different story.
Jaylen Brown scored 26 points, Jayson Tatum added 23 points and 13 rebounds, and the Celtics pulled away from the Toronto Raptors 115-101 at TD Garden, winning their third consecutive game and moving closer to clinching second place in the Eastern Conference.
Neemias Queta contributed 18 points and seven rebounds off the bench, while Payton Pritchard added 17. Celtics center Nikola Vucevic returned from a month-long absence following surgery on a broken right ring finger, finishing with four points and four rebounds in 13 minutes after looking understandably tentative.
Toronto was led by Ja’Kobe Walter with 16 points, while Brandon Ingram and RJ Barrett each scored 15.
A sluggish start and a slow burn
Boston came in having scored at least 43 points in the opening quarter in each of its previous two games. Sunday looked nothing like that early on. The Celtics missed 13 of their first 16 attempts from three-point range and the teams were level at 26 after one quarter, with neither side able to create separation.
The Raptors, fighting to secure a top-six spot in the Eastern Conference and avoid the play-in tournament, stayed competitive through three quarters and trailed by just three points entering the fourth. Toronto had beaten Memphis by 32 points in its previous game and arrived at TD Garden with genuine play-in anxiety driving its effort.
The fourth quarter broke it open
Pritchard opened the final period with a long three-pointer 18 seconds in, and Boston used that as a springboard for a 16-6 run that effectively ended the contest. The Raptors struggled to contain Brown in crunch time, and Toronto’s defensive breakdowns compounded a night already troubled by turnovers.
Toronto was outscored 35-24 in the fourth, a margin that reflected the gulf in focus between a team protecting its seeding and one fighting to stay above the play-in line. Walter missed all three free throw attempts on one fourth-quarter possession, a moment that captured the Raptors’ difficulties when the game tightened.
Brown was at his most impactful down the stretch. On one sequence, he missed a free throw attempting a three-point play, retrieved the rebound and converted the layup on the same possession. The Raptors trailed by 10 with under four minutes remaining, and Boston scored 10 of the next 12 points to remove any remaining doubt.
Despite shooting just 29% from three-point range for the game compared to Toronto’s 40%, the Celtics made up the difference in the paint, scoring 76 points inside to the Raptors’ 58, and controlled the boards by a 13-rebound margin.
Both teams return to action Tuesday. The Raptors host Miami, and the Celtics host Charlotte.