Jaylen Brown scored eight of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and the visiting Boston Celtics defeated the Toronto Raptors 111-101 on Tuesday night.
Jayson Tatum added 19 points and 11 assists for the Celtics, who have won six in a row. Derrick White contributed 22 points, five assists and three steals, reserve Payton Pritchard scored 20 points and Sam Hauser scored 10.
RJ Barrett scored 22 points to lead the Raptors, who have lost seven of nine. Scottie Barnes added 21 points, Gradey Dick scored 12 and Immanuel Quickley had 10.
Boston took the season series 3-1.
Kristaps Porzingis (illness) was a late scratch from Boston’s already depleted lineup.
Brown scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to give Boston a 17-point lead. Ochai Agbaji’s 3-pointer cut the lead to eight with 7:17 remaining in the fourth, and the Raptors pulled to within seven on Jamal Shead’s bank shot at the 4:18 mark.
Tatum blunted the rally with a fadeaway jumper and then had a steal that eventually led to White’s 3-pointer.
The undermanned — and as a result smaller — Celtics came out playing aggressive defense, forcing six early Toronto turnovers to take a 35-24 lead after one quarter.
Toronto picked up the pace and opened the second quarter on a 10-0 run with Tatum taking a breather on the bench. Chris Boucher’s dunk gave Toronto a 38-37 lead with 7:30 remaining.
With Tatum back on the court, Boston moved the ball crisply again and took a six-point lead on White’s 3-pointer with 4:41 to play. Pritchard’s steal set up another 3-pointer by White and Boston led by nine. Tatum snatched the rebound on his own missed 3-point attempt to sink a pretty 8-foot floater that gave Boston a 66-54 halftime lead.
Toronto hustled on defense and scored the first seven points of the third quarter. Boston regained the 12-point lead when Tatum hit a corner 3-pointer with 8:34 left in the third. The Celtics led 89-76 after three quarters.
Boston’s Al Horford (toe), Jrue Holiday (rest) and Luke Kornet (personal) did not play. Toronto’s Jakob Poeltl (hip pointer) was out.
–Field Level Media
