BOSTON (AP) — Jaylen Brown scored 29 points, Jayson Tatum 27 and the Boston Celtics earned a 117-94 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Saturday night.
Kristaps Porzingis added 21 points and seven rebounds in 28 minutes for the Celtics, who won their second straight game after a 14-point victory over Brooklyn in their NBA In-Season Tournament opener Friday night.
“I feel like we’re really far from being a finished product, a team like that,” Porzingis said. “We’re still a long way from that. … There’s going to be ups and downs. There’s going to be three games where it’s going to look crazy and three games where it’s going to fall apart and the fans are going to overreact.
Pascal Siakam led the Raptors with 17 points and seven rebounds. Dennis Schroder had 14 points and Jakob Poeltl 12.
Toronto, which had won its last two games – both on the road – shot just 10 of 37 on 3-point attempts.
Boston coach Joe Mazzulla took a challenge — and succeeded — with his team up 27 points and 3:27 to play.
“At the end of the day, my responsibility is to my players first,” he said when told the Raptors were upset. “It was an obvious opportunity for me to try to empower the players, to let them know that I’m coaching you.”
The Raptors felt differently.
“It’s disrespectful,” Schroder said in the locker room.
Asked if that’s something they’ll remember on Friday when the teams meet in Toronto, he quickly responded: “Of course.” »
Brown scored 14 points in the third quarter when the Celtics pushed their nine-point halftime lead to 24 points midway through the quarter. He started his scoring streak with a 3 in the left corner and capped it with a putback jam, arriving on the baseline.
Brown had 28 points in Friday’s win. Tatum added 23.
“Both of them are elite players in this league,” Schroder said. “In the end, we made it easier for them. We have an opportunity on Friday to make things more difficult.
Boston led 88-71 after three quarters.
With Brown on the bench at the start of the fourth, it was Tatum’s turn. He made 3-pointers on consecutive possessions, extending Boston’s lead to 96-71.
Later, he set up Brown for a crowd-pleasing jam that made the score 101-73 with just over 8 minutes left.
With the Raptors missing early and often from 3-point range, the evening ended up being relatively easy for Boston’s starters, with everyone on the bench enjoying the final minutes.
TD Garden laid its traditional hardwood floor one evening after the tournament game on an NBA-mandated floor with a tournament-themed look.
Boston center Al Horford was back in the lineup after being out Friday with a right knee injury. He scored seven points and seven rebounds in 24 minutes.
FOLLOWING
Raptors: Host the Wizards Monday night, the first of four straight home games.
Celtics: Face the Knicks on Monday night, capping a three-game homestand.
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