TORONTO -- This game was heading for a blowout. The Toronto Raptors went up by 22 points early in the second quarter. But in the blink of an eye (about five minutes of in-game action), the Boston Celtics bounced back.
Led by Jayson Tatum's creation and a gritty second-quarter lineup, the Celtics were back. Just like that. But it wasn't going to be that easy. Toronto wouldn't let it be.
It was a one-possession game for much of the final frame. Neither side was giving an inch. The Raptors fought hard on the glass and pressured the ball. Boston looked for chances to get out and run to help spark its offense.
As the game hit the final two minutes, the energy in Scotiabank Arena picked up. A huge transition dunk gave the Raptors a 3-point lead, but the Celtics responded.
Tatum dumped it off to Neemias Queta for a dunk. Then, on the other end, Jamal Shead missed a wide-open 3-pointer, Tatum drove the ball in transition, and drew a foul. A massive swing to put the Celtics ahead.
After a massive rebound by Queta, who had been struggling a bit on the boards in the fourth, and two free throws from him as well, Boston was up 96-93 with 15.1 seconds on the clock.
Sam Hauser stole the Raptors' inbound pass, and the rest of the game was history. Boston walked away with a 98-93 victory, stealing one in Toronto.
Up: End of the second quarter
The Celtics were down and out. It looked like they were being shuttled straight into a blowout Raptors victory. But they fought their way back into the game in the final five minutes of the second quarter.
Boston went on a 17-2 run. Its defense was connected, forcing misses and, on the other end, capitalizing on those stops. The comeback was highlighted by a Derrick White steal and a gorgeous sequence in transition.
A thing of beauty 🤌 pic.twitter.com/MLyjIZHGX4
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 12, 2026
Tatum, White, Queta, Baylor Scheierman, and Payton Pritchard/Hauser got the job done. They made the right plays at the right times to make up for an ugly start to the game.
Everything picked up. The energy, the execution, the awareness. Boston could have rolled over and given up after going down by 22 points on the second night of a back-to-back. Especially after an 8:00 p.m. tip in another road city on Tuesday night.
But Boston kept fighting. It never let up. What once looked like a clear-cut blowout quickly flipped into anybody's game.
Down: The first quarter and a half
Now, the reason the Celtics had to make a wild comeback was that they didn't come to play for the first (roughly) 19 minutes of this game. Toronto blitzed them.
The Raptors nailed 10 threes in the first quarter -- a number that tied the franchise record. Boston's help-and-recover defense definitely helped, but the recoveries left much to be desired.
As a result, the Raptors stepped into a ton of open threes. What were supposed to be late Celtics closeouts ended up non-existent. It was a Toronto onslaught of triples.
Meanwhile, on the offensive end, the Celtics' creation was ugly. Tatum was struggling to find a rhythm, and with Paul George out (illness), the rest of the Celtics' lineup wasn't creating much for themselves, either.
Up: Jayson Tatum
It wasn't the best scoring night for Tatum. The efficiency wasn't really there, especially in the first half. But when the Celtics hit their stride midway through the second, it was