Final: Celtics 118, Raptors 102 -- Jaylen Brown erupts for 30 points as C's roll on Christmas

The Celtics weren’t quite ready for a noon-time start on Christmas Day after falling into a 10-0 hole three minutes into the matinee. The tide turned quickly from there however as the C’s rolled over the final 45 minutes to a 118-102 victory, Boston’s first win in Toronto since April 2015.

Jaylen Brown had one of the best games of his career in the victory, posting 30 points for the fifth time this season along with six rebounds. Kemba Walker chipped in with 22 points and 4 assists while Gordon Hayward also looked sharp in his return with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting after sitting out three games with a sore foot.

The undermanned Raptors struggled to produce offense against the C’s without Marc Gasol, Pascal Siakam and Norm Powell despite getting a team-high 27 points from Fred VanVleet. Chris Boucher also chipped in with 24 points off the bench but it wasn’t enough to compete with a red-hot Celtics’ offense that shot 42 percent from 3-point range and had six players finish in double figures.

Boston now heads home riding a four-game winning streak and improves to 2-0 against the Raptors this season. The Celtics will host the Cavs back at the Garden on Friday afternoon.

• Gordon Hayward has been cleared to return after sitting out the last three games with a sore foot. The swingman got his third cortisone shot earlier this week and it appears to have helped ease the nerve pain he's been experiencing for the last two months. No set minutes limit for the 29-year-old but look for Brad Stevens to take it easy on him in his first action in 10 days.


• Marcus Smart is with the Celtics in Toronto and will go through a pregame workout according to Brad Stevens but will sit out as he continues to recover from an eye infection. The team is hopeful he will return by Dec. 31.


• The Raptors will be without three key rotation pieces in Norm Powell, Marc Gasol and Pascal Siakam for the fourth straight game as they are sidelined indefinitely.


• Stevens on the Raptors unique pressure defense: "They’ve been doing that for a — or they’ve been doing that for the last couple of years, mixing in different things. They do a good job of that, and use them at different times. They play the 1-2-1-1 full-court press and trap to get back in the Dallas game, which was an incredible game. Lowry was incredible but their defense was incredible in the fourth quarter. Then last night they played two quarters of 2-3 zone, they’ve played a 1-2-2 zone before, they’ve obviously done the box before. So they’ve mixed it up, just kinda depending on who they’re playing, what part in the game it is and everything else. I think Nick’s a really good coach and, even in their man defense, which is excellent, they have what I would consider to be a ton of real strong help principles. They really help, they really pressure. I think that, the way that we want to guard when we’re at our best in man, and the way that they want to guard in man, is probably — we probably try to emphasize the same stuff. But they are a team that — they bring it every night, they’re really good."