A shorthanded Boston Celtics squad just barely fell short of the Toronto Raptors Monday night in overtime, 115-112. Boston was without Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, and Rob Williams, as announced in the pregame injury report.
Boston started out strong with a 38-30 first-quarter lead but lost momentum in the second quarter and was down 59-58 at the half. It was fairly even from there, but the C’s had a 101-94 lead with three and a half minutes left in the fourth before some rebounding struggles allowed Toronto to storm back.
The Celtics were able to jump back out to a four-point lead with a minute left following a three from Grant Williams, but Siakam led another comeback that sent it to overtime. Boston then once again held a four-point lead two minutes in, but the C’s fell behind and missed several chances to tie it and take the lead in the final minute and ended up missing out on a seventh straight win.
Marcus Smart led the C’s with 28 points, as he, Aaron Nesmith, Williams, Daniel Theis, and Derrick White all saw 40 minutes of action, while Payton Pritchard notched 30 minutes. Even Sam Hauser (21 minutes) and Luke Kornet (15 minutes) saw a large uptick in the number of minutes received.
White had a team-high eight assists to go along with 15 points, while Williams had 17 points. Hauser and Kornet also combined for 16 points. With no Horford or Rob Williams in the paint, it was a struggle for Theis and Grant Williams to defend the Raptors’ versatile big man Pascal Siakam — who put up 40 points.
Boston will return back home for Wednesday’s matchup vs. the Heat Wednesday night, at 7:30 p.m. ET.