It was the Boston Celtics’ second In-Season Tournament game of the year, and they beat the Toronto Raptors in a tough game.

In The 6, the Celtics got off to a slow start. They made five three-point shots in the first minute and missed all of them. Jayson Tatum kept things calm with a pair of baskets in the paint, and Jrue Holiday got things going early from deep with a pair of threes just five minutes into the game. He came back into the game in the middle of the quarter and picked up right where he left off as one of the league’s best deep-ball threats. The three-point specialist was moving well, and in the first, he was repaid with two threes.

Running the offense, Derrick White had a couple of good plays. He set up Jaylen Brown with a nice ATO design and found Al Horford with a clever lob driving downhill. The fact that Kristaps Porzingis had four helpers in the first quarter showed that he was making good reads from the post.

After saying that his goal was to make the All-Defensive team, Brown showed some of his defensive skills with a huge block on Dennis Schroder, a former Celtic.

Gary Trent Jr. was on fire for Toronto. He scored nine points in the first quarter even though he seemed to be recovering from an ankle injury. Pascal Siakam scored eight points in the first quarter against Boston, continuing his recent run of good play.

Even though the Celtics had a few good performances, Boston’s problems from three were the clearest picture. The team made only 5 of 17 shots from beyond the arc, which is 29.4%. The Raptors, on the other hand, focused more on making baskets and made 56% of their field goal tries.

In the second quarter, Boston really stepped it up, hitting 37 points to 19 for the Raptors. Hauser kept hitting threes, making his third of the night. He also scored a rare dunk after a nice cut that left him wide open as he ran down the lane.

Holiday was a big part of Boston’s run that gave them the lead back early in the second. The guard was able to play in a lot of different spots and did well in both the post and the mid-range. When he got to the free throw line, Porzingis kept finding himself in mismatch situations. He beat the Raptors with a mix of bully ball, hitting over his defender, and good passes.

Payton Pritchard was very active when he was on both sides of the court. The quick guard made a lot of good reads in transition. He was +11 when he left with just under five minutes left in the first half.

An alley-oop from Brown to Porzingis killed another player in the pick-and-roll: a Scotiabank Arena rim. That pair has a good relationship and may be Boston’s most powerful two-man combo so far this season.

Tatum made his impact known with a string of three-pointers after having a rough start to the game (0-5 from three). The MVP candidate quickly scored 13 points, including this beautiful three-pointer at the end of the first half to put the game out of its early stages.

The Raptors came out strong in the second half, and the Celtics couldn’t keep up. The Raptors got back into the game and tied it with a big run in the middle of the third. As is usual for young head coach Joe Mazzulla, he wouldn’t give his players a timeout until 3:32 remained in the second-to-last quarter.

For most of the rest of the third quarter, both teams scored goals, and with 12 minutes left to play, Boston was ahead 84–81.

Toronto came into this game as one of the best fourth-quarter teams in the NBA this season. They built on that with a 7-0 run to take the lead early on. During pick-and-rolls, Boston’s defense didn’t put enough pressure on the ball handler, which led to several bad plays, including this high-flying dunk by Scottie Barnes. Al Horford has been very helpful when needed so far this season, and that continued early in the fourth. Toronto took the lead for a short time, but the senior made back-to-back threes to put Boston ahead again.

Early on in his time with the Celtics, Porzingis’ ability to protect the basket has been very important for Boston. That was the case again on Friday when the big man blocked three shots.

With less than four minutes left, the score was tied at 97-97, putting the Celtics in a familiar tight late-game scenario. Tatum missed several open threes that he usually makes, showing that their star player wasn’t up to par this time.

Luckily, this team has a lot of good players besides Jayson Tatum.

Down the stretch, Brown and Porzingis led the way scoring. At the 40-second mark, Boston finally got a stop, and the “other guys” came back. The best “role player” in the NBA, Derrick White, made the game-winning three-point shot after Jrue Holiday made a great pass out of the post to him.

When White is asked to do something, the guard does it, and that was the case again on Friday night as Boston beat the scrappy Raptors 108–105 to escape Toronto. Brown scored the most points, 23 to be exact, but all of the stars except Tatum had great games as well. Pritchard and Hauser, who both scored 11 points and the rest of the bench also showed up.

One thing to keep an eye on is Brown’s condition. He slipped and looked like he was changing something with less than a minute left in the game. As new information comes in, it will be added.

The Celtics will then fly to Memphis to play the Grizzlies. Their old friend Marcus Smart will not be able to play because he hurt his ankle. Boston will try to keep the good mood going when they play Desmond Bane and his team at FedExForum on Sunday at 8:00 EST.