Payton Pritchard scored 19 of his 33 points in the third quarter and added 10 assists and eight rebounds Saturday night as the visiting Boston Celtics defeated the Toronto Raptors 112-96.
Derrick White and Anfernee Simons each added 15 points for the Celtics, who won two in a row on a back-to-back.
Neemias Queta scored 14 points, Luka Garza added 12 points and 10 rebounds and Hugo Gonzalez contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds in a balanced attack.
Boston has won seven of nine.
Brandon Ingram and Sandro Mamukelashvili each scored 24 for the Raptors, who have dropped five of seven. Scottie Barnes added 12 points and nine rebounds.
Jaylen Brown (illness) did not play for Boston. Toronto’s Jakob Poeltl (back) also was out.
The Celtics have won both meetings between the Atlantic Division rivals. They won 121-113 on Dec. 7, also in Toronto.
Boston took an 83-80 lead into the fourth quarter and quickly increased it to seven. White nailed two consecutive 3-pointers to bump the lead to 97-84 with 8:01 to play.
Toronto moved to within 102-94 on Barnes’ turnaround hook with 5:25 remaining, but Pritchard’s 13-footer gave Boston a comfortable14-point margin with 2:31 remaining.
Boston finished the first quarter with a 16-0 run to take a 32-20 lead with reserves scoring 15 points. Garza had five offensive rebounds in 5:12 of playing time.
The Celtics led 41-28 on White’s 3-pointer with 7:47 to play in the second quarter. The flow turned in the Raptors’ favor as Immanuel Quickley drained a 3-pointer to cap a 23-8 run that closed the first-half scoring and gave the hosts a 51-49 lead.
Boston took a two-point lead on Pritchard’s reverse layup with 9:46 to play but Toronto came back to lead 67-60 on Ingram’s 19-footer with 6:15 remaining in the third quarter.
But Pritchard’s 3-pointer completed an 8-0 surge that gave Boston a one-point lead with 3:28 left. Pritchard struck again with a fade-away jumper that gave Boston an 83-80 lead after three quarters.
Boston outrebounded Toronto, 55-37 and outscored them in the paint, 54-32.
–Field Level Media
