Raptors’ 23-Point Rally Falls Short as Celtics Escape 121–113
For twenty-four minutes, Boston looked untouchable. The Celtics sliced the Raptors apart with early-clock threes and a relentless paint attack, hanging 77 first-half points — the most Toronto has allowed in any half this season. Derrick White (27 points) scored 14 in the opening quarter alone, while Jaylen Brown (30 points) lived in the mid-range and at the rim.
When Payton Pritchard’s third-quarter triple pushed the lead to 87–64, it felt like another blowout was loading. Instead, Toronto authored its best stretch of basketball this season. Jamal Shead cranked up the tempo, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Ochai Agbaji injected energy, and Scottie Barnes began to bend the floor as a driver and playmaker.
Over a blistering 10-minute span bridging the third and fourth quarters, the Raptors outscored Boston 34–10, slicing a 23-point deficit all the way into a Raptors lead at 98–97 after another Shead burst to the rim.
The building flipped. The Celtics, who had not trailed since the first half of their win over the Knicks earlier in the week, suddenly looked rattled.
But as quickly as the Raptors wrestled control back, Boston’s late-game poise reclaimed it. With the score tied 102–102, the Celtics turned to their spacing and trusted decision-making: back-to-back threes from White and Pritchard rebuilt a six-point cushion, and from there Boston’s experience carried them home.
Toronto never led again. The Raptors had done the hard part — erasing 23 points — but against a team with Boston’s shooting and offensive organisation, the early hole and the defensive rebounding gap proved too deep.
Brandon Ingram matched Brown shot for shot for long stretches, finishing with 30 points on 11-of-20 shooting and 4-of-7 from three. He punished single coverage, generated clean looks from the mid-post, and hit big shots during the third-quarter surge.
Scottie Barnes authored a near triple-double: 18 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists with a steal and a block. His fingerprints were all over the comeback — pushing in transition, finding backdoor cutters like Mamukelashvili and Lawson, and stabilising the offense when possessions threatened to stall.
The bench changed the tenor of the game. Mamukelashvili (14 points, +12) floated between pick-and-pop spacing and smart cuts, Agbaji (11 points, 4-of-7) gave Toronto downhill scoring and second efforts on the glass, and Shead (9 points, 3 assists, 2 steals) drove a defensive and pace shift that clearly rattled Boston.
- Ingram: 30 pts (11/20 FG, 4/7 3PT), 4 REB, 3 AST
- Barnes: 18 pts, 11 REB, 8 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK
- Mamukelashvili: 14 pts (6/10 FG), 6 REB, +12
- Agbaji: 11 pts (4/7 FG), 3 REB, 2 BLK, +7
- Quickley: 11 pts, 5 AST, 7/7 FT despite playing through illness
The downside: the Barnes–Ingram–Poeltl starting group struggled to contain Boston’s first punch and never fully solved the defensive glass. Poeltl’s line (10 points, 4 rebounds) undersells how often the Celtics extended possessions — Boston finished with 17–4 second-chance points.
Toronto has now lost five of its last six, including three straight at home, but this performance sits in a different category than the flat loss to Charlotte. The Raptors showed they can pressure an elite offense, generate turnovers, and string together sustainable rim pressure when Barnes is the hub and the bench plays with conviction.
The concern is structural: defensive rebounding, three-point volume, and the early-game execution gap against top-tier teams. Boston attempted 47 threes to Toronto’s 22, and when you lose that math — and the offensive glass — your margin for error in the half court shrinks to almost nothing.
All of that funnels directly into Tuesday’s NBA Cup quarterfinal vs. the Knicks. The Raptors will need the version of themselves that showed up midway through the third quarter — aggressive, connected, and unafraid of pace — from the opening tip. The Cup isn’t just a trophy chase; for a team still defining its ceiling, it’s another stress test against playoff-style physicality.
If Sunday showed anything, it’s that the Raptors can go punch-for-punch with a heavyweight. The next step is avoiding the slow start that leaves them chasing the fight.