With a 117–94 win over the Toronto Raptors on Saturday night, Jaylen Brown scored 29 points and Jayson Tatum scored 27.
The Celtics won their second straight game after beating Brooklyn by 14 points in their first NBA In-Season Tournament game on Friday night. Kristaps Porzingis added 21 points and seven rebounds in 28 minutes.
Porzingis said, “I don’t think we’re even close to being a finished product as a team.” “We’re still a long way from that… There will be good times and bad times. There will be three games where it looks crazy and three games where it falls apart, and fans will go crazy.
Siakam had 17 points and 7 rebounds to lead the Raptors. He scored 14 points, and Jakob Poeltl scored 12.
Two of Toronto’s last three games were wins on the road. But they only made 10 of 37 3-point shots.
Boston coach Joe Mazzulla used a challenge, and it worked. With 3:27 left in the game, his team was ahead by 27 points.
He told them, “At the end of the day, my duty is to my players first,” when they were upset. “It was a clear chance for me to give the players more power and let them know I’m coaching them.”
The Raptors had a different opinion.
The quarterback said, “That’s disrespectful,” in the dressing room.
When asked if they would remember it when the teams play again on Friday in Toronto, he said right away, “For sure.”
When Brown scored 14 points in the third quarter, the Celtics’ lead from halftime had grown to nine points, and it was 24 points by the middle of the quarter. He began scoring quickly by making a three-pointer in the left corner. In the end, he came in on the sideline and scored a putback jam.
Brown scored 28 points to help his team win on Friday. Tatum put in 23.
Schroder said, “Both of them are top players in this league.” “We made things easy for them in the end.” On Friday, we have a chance to make it harder.
At the half, Boston was ahead 88–71.
At the start of the fourth, Brown was on the bench, so Tatum got to play. He made two 3s in a row, which increased Boston’s lead to 96-71.
After that, he set up Brown for a fast-break jam that made the score 101–73 with just over 8 minutes left.
Since the Raptors had trouble early on and often from 3-point range, Boston’s players had an easy night and spent the last few minutes of the game on the bench.
The NBA made TD Garden’s floor look like it was from a competition the night after the game. It was wood floors with a tournament theme.
Boston’s center Al Horford was back in the lineup after missing Friday’s game because of an injury to his right knee. In 24 minutes, he sank seven shots and grabbed seven boards.