TORONTO – Jayson Tatum could not shoot the Celtics out of trouble, so he took the lead back at the free-throw line. With 25.2 seconds remaining Wednesday night, his two makes turned a one-point deficit into an advantage Boston would not surrender.
The Celtics beat the Toronto Raptors 98–93 after trailing by 22, extending their winning streak to five and completing a four-game road sweep. Tatum finished with 24 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, although he made only six of 21 shots.
The victory offered a different test from Boston’s three-point barrage against Philadelphia the previous night. This time, the Celtics had neither the better three-point total nor their usual efficiency from Tatum. They won by finding points elsewhere and giving Toronto none over the closing stretch.
The NBA’s official box score explains the difference. Boston made 30 field goals to Toronto’s 32 and 14 three-pointers to the Raptors’ 16. Each team therefore made 16 two-point baskets, leaving Toronto with a six-point advantage on shots from the field.
Boston recovered all of that at the line. The Celtics converted 24 of 28 free throws; Toronto made 13 of 18. That 11-point difference, offset by the six-point field-goal deficit, accounts for the five-point result. It was not a victory built on making more shots. It was a victory built on making the scoring opportunities count differently.
Tatum supplied 10 of those free throws in 12 attempts. His two three-pointers came from 11 attempts, and his overall field-goal percentage was 28.6%. The line kept him productive when the jumper did not, while his eight assists gave Boston another way to benefit from the attention he drew.
The Celtics still had to rescue the game twice. Erasing the large second-quarter deficit did not settle it. Toronto regained enough control to enter the fourth ahead 80–75, then held a 93–90 lead late in the final period.
NBC Sports Boston’s final recap recorded an 8–0 finish for the visitors and a 15–4 closing run. Sam Hauser’s steal on an inbound pass denied the Raptors a clean opportunity to answer, while Neemias Queta supplied another block in the final sequence. The defensive work protected what the free throws had earned.
Queta’s contribution went well beyond that last stop. He finished with 11 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, three blocks and a steal. Ten of his rebounds came on the defensive glass, helping Boston finish possessions instead of merely forcing misses. He also converted six of eight free throws, making him the team’s second-largest contributor to its decisive foul-line total.
Derrick White scored 19 points and added seven assists and four blocks. That last number was especially important on a night when Boston needed resistance from more than its centers. White and Queta accounted for seven of the Celtics’ 10 blocks, but their individual totals should not be mistaken for seven separate turning points: the broader value was in how often Toronto had to finish against a contested attempt.
Payton Pritchard added 14 points off the bench. Baylor Scheierman made three of five three-pointers, scored nine and collected seven rebounds. Hauser had eight points and nine boards, including three offensive rebounds. Boston’s supporting players provided enough production to keep Tatum’s inefficient shooting from determining the outcome by itself.
For the Raptors, the game changed sharply after a spectacular start from deep. They made 10 of 18 three-point attempts in the opening quarter, NBC’s recap reported, then just six of 25 across the remaining three periods. The first-quarter rate was 55.6%; the rest-of-game rate was 24%.
Those shooting stretches explain how a 22-point advantage could vanish without making the comeback inevitable. Toronto still led after three quarters. It scored 13 points in the fourth, however, while Boston scored 23. The Raptors’ early makes created room; their late offense could not preserve it.
Ja’Kobe Walter led Toronto with 17 points, making five of 10 three-pointers. Allen Graves scored 13, and RJ Barrett, Jamison Battle and Alijah Martin each added 12. Barrett also collected eight rebounds and seven assists but shot five of 16 from the field. Toronto finished at 37.6% overall.
Both teams were missing major contributors. Boston played without Paul George, whose 36-point performance had driven the previous night’s win in Philadelphia. Toronto was without Kawhi Leonard, Scottie Barnes and Trayce Jackson-Davis, according to NBC’s pregame coverage. Those absences are part of the context, not evidence that either team was entitled to a particular result.
Boston improved to 10–2, with its fifth straight victory coming on the second night of back-to-back road games. The four-game trip ended unbeaten. Yet the final margin leaves the performance’s tension intact: the Celtics needed to recover from a huge deficit, then needed to stop another game from slipping away after they had already recovered.
Tatum’s shooting never became comfortable. The final possessions did not require it to. Boston took the lead at the line and left Toronto without another point.
