The last game of Toronto’s road trip is a loss in Boston, after two wins in Texas.

The Raptors played a team from their own conference after two big wins over the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks. As of tonight, only four teams in the Eastern Conference had records better than.500. The Celtics were one of those four. When the Celtics played the Raptors for the first time this season, they were second in the East and finally seemed to be scoring well. It was a good sign for the team.

The Raptors looked like they could hang early in the game. In the first quarter, they kept it close. At the end of it, they were only down by four points, 30–26. The team didn’t shoot very well, but they made up for it by getting to the basket and scoring from close range. Going bucket for bucket with the Celtics isn’t always the best move, but it helped them stay in the game early on.

Toronto was able to score enough points in the second quarter to keep their lead manageable. But when the Raptors bench first came into the game, they didn’t seem to know how to score the ball. The Raptors kept working on the inside with Dennis Schroder and Jakob Poeltl for PnR, and at halfway, they were only down 55–46.

The wheels came off at that point, and Toronto’s shooting stopped. The Raptors tried a lot of three-point shots but missed them, ending the night 10 for 37 from beyond the line. Going bucket-for-bucket with a team as talented as Boston’s does catch up with you at this point. Right away, the Celtics took the lead because they kept scoring, while the Raptors couldn’t seem to make a jump shot. Their answer? Take them again. What did happen? They missed them a lot.

The Celtics were ahead 88–71 at the start of the fourth quarter, and the Raptors gave up. After putting only two players on the court to start the last frame, Toronto didn’t score for more than three minutes. This is when Darko Rajakovic took OG Anunoby and Jakob Poeltl off the field so that the players on the bench could finish the game. But Boston did not. In the fourth, they grew their lead to more than 30 points before going into “garbage time” and putting their bench in for the last five minutes of the game.

Good goals were made by Malachi Flynn and Chris Boucher, which was good to see. During extra time, they cut the Celtics’ lead down to 117–94, which was the final score.

But things started to get rough in the last quarter. Joe Mazzulla questioned a call after the game was already over and Toronto knew they had lost. This caused the Raptors bench and Darko Rajakovic to talk to him.

Not only did Toronto lose badly, but they also have some motivational posters for their return with Boston on Friday night. The reporters and, I’m sure, the bench were quick to point out how long Tatum, Brown, and Porzingis played, even though Toronto was down to their last three players. Friday is the first time this season that the Celtics will be at Scotiabank Arena. It should be a very interesting game.

After this, the Raptors will play at home against the Washingtоn Wizards on Monday night. Washingtоn has a 2–6 record and is in second-to-last place in the East. After tonight’s tough loss, the Raptors will want to get back to winning ways.