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TORONTO — Jayson Tatum made the tying and go-ahead free throws with 25.2 seconds remaining, and the Boston Celtics overcame a 22-point deficit to beat the Toronto Raptors 98-93 on Wednesday night for their fifth straight win.
Tatum finished with 24 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists. He shot 6-of-21 from the field and 2-of-11 from 3-point range and made 10 of 12 free throws. Derrick White had 19 points, 7 assists, and 4 blocks on 7-of-15 shooting, Payton Pritchard scored 14, and Neemias Queta had 11 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 blocks.
Boston played without Paul George, who sat out with an illness. George scored 36 points in Boston’s 123-101 win at Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Ja’Kobe Walter led Toronto with 17 points and made 5 of 10 3-point attempts. Allen Graves, the 19th overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, scored a career-high 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting. RJ Barrett had 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists on 5-of-16 shooting, Jamison Battle and Alijah Martin scored 12 each, and Immanuel Quickley added 11 on 3-of-14 shooting in his return from a two-game absence with a sore right hamstring.
Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said Graves “played a great game tonight with rebounding, with shooting the ball, with energy, with effort.” Graves had 4 offensive rebounds, all after halftime. “I feel like offensive rebounding is just you wanting to do it. I feel like that’s the biggest part about it,” Graves said.
Toronto’s Fast Start And Boston’s 16-0 Answer
Toronto scored 38 points in the first quarter and led 38-29 after one. The Raptors went 10-of-18 from 3-point range in the quarter, tying the franchise record for 3-pointers in a quarter, and Walter scored 12 points, all on 3-pointers.
“Just shooting it with confidence. Just knowing that every shot I shoot, I’m trying to make it. My teammates were finding me,” Walter said of the first quarter.
Toronto led 59-37 after a Jamal Shead free throw with 5:24 remaining in the second quarter. Boston answered with 16 straight points, the first 10 by Tatum. Toronto led 61-54 at halftime and 80-75 after three quarters before Boston won the fourth 23-13.
Boston shot 41.1% from the field on 30-of-73, made 14 of 40 3-point attempts and 24 of 28 free throws, blocked 10 shots, and committed 18 turnovers. Toronto shot 37.6% on 32-of-85 and went 16-of-43 from 3-point range and 13-of-18 from the free-throw line. Boston outrebounded Toronto 45-42.
Toronto had only three turnovers in the first half and 12 after halftime. “A lot of them are live ball turnovers,” Rajakovic said, adding that the second-half mistakes came down to “execution and details” and to playing through fatigue with a short-handed roster.
Baylor Scheierman had 9 points and 7 rebounds for Boston and made 3 of 5 3-point attempts, and Sam Hauser added 8 points and 9 rebounds. Jakob Poeltl had 6 points and 9 rebounds for Toronto.
Toronto’s last two chances slipped away in the final 17 seconds. After Tatum’s free throws, Barrett missed a driving layup with 16.9 seconds left, and Rajakovic said he would have to watch the film to judge whether Barrett was fouled on the play; there was no call. Queta made two free throws, and on the next possession Battle’s inbound pass was stolen by Hauser with 13.7 seconds left.
“So I don’t think there was no real miscommunication. I just think it’s a tough pass, tough play to make,” Walter said, adding that the Raptors “just got to work on our end of game situations.”
Walter said the loss stung because Toronto built the lead itself. “We had a good lead, and at the end of the day, we blew the lead. We can’t do that,” he said. “We need to figure out how to play with a lead.”
Raptors Fall Below .500 With Kawhi Leonard And Scottie Barnes Out
Toronto fell to 5-6 and is below .500 for the first time this season. Kawhi Leonard missed his ninth straight game with a left knee injury. Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said before the game that Leonard is “progressing well” with individual conditioning, and the team said Tuesday it would update his status in a week. Leonard has played in two games this season and is averaging 19.5 points.
Scottie Barnes missed his third straight game with a left groin injury. Barnes is averaging 23.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 5.1 assists. Collin Murray-Boyles made his fourth start after missing Monday’s loss to Memphis with an illness and finished with 5 points on 1-of-9 shooting.
Boston improved to 10-2. Tatum is averaging 26.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 7.5 assists. The Celtics host the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday at 5 p.m. CT. The Raptors visit the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday at 6 p.m. CT, then host the New York Knicks on Sunday and Tuesday.
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