Jayson Tatum scored a late buzzer-beater to fire the Boston Celtics to a dramatic win over the Toronto Raptors.
Boston Celtics (11-3) needed a last-gasp three-pointer from MVP contender Jayson Tatum to avoid a second overtime period against the now 2-12 Toronto Raptors.
While there were suggestions on social media that Tatum’s late shot came after a ‘travel’, he executed his shot to perfection to pull off a 126-123 win.
Tatum scored 24 points, adding 11 rebounds and 9 assists, narrowly short of a triple-double.
Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 27 points. He had 6 rebounds and 7 assists. The Celtics are second in the Eastern Conference, behind only the currently unbeaten Cleveland Cavaliers.
Brown spoke to reporters after the win, and expressed his unhappiness with the Celtics defense inside the paint.
He explained: “We need to watch it, but I think overall we’re just giving up too many layups. I feel like our defense could be better.
“I feel like they shot just too many easy shots in the paint and that’s kind of been the theme, so we need to figure that out.”
“It’s not like we want to encourage teams to shoot threes or anything, but we definitely don’t want to keep giving up layup after layup after layup. So we’re going to figure some stuff out. We’ll watch it. We’ll adjust.”
The Celtics must improve and adjust ahead of their NBA Cup game against the Cavalier at TD Garden this week. Both teams will be keen to make a statement, and the Celtics will have to defend better than they did against the Raptors.
Al Horford had his best game of the season, scoring 18 points in the win over Toronto, showing he can still be a force at the age of 38.
Speaking after the game he admitted that the close games the Celtics are playing now will help them when it really matters.
Horford said: “It keeps us on our toe. I feel like every team we’re playing against us is giving us their best shot. All of this stuff will make us better.
“We’re probably not winning like we’re expected to, but the biggest thing is that we’re finding ways to get it done.”
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