As Rob Williams contemplated his options for knee surgery, a stripped down lineup of his teammates flew into Toronto searching for a way to keep their precarious hold on first place in the Eastern Conference.
With Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown left behind to nurse sore knees, Al Horford missing his second straight game for personal business, and Williams’ immediate future very much in question, the Celtics fell just short with a 115-112 overtime loss to the Raptors. The loss snapped a six-game winning streak and dropped the Celtics a game behind first-place Miami, winners over Sacramento Monday night.
The Celtics started a lineup of Marcus Smart (28 points), Derrick White, Grant Williams, Daniel Theis and Aaron Nesmith.
White opened overtime with a pair of free throws for a 108-106 Celtics lead, Smart followed with a drive, and OG Anunoby cut the margin to a point with a corner three.
Pascal Siakam followed up his own miss for a one-point advantage and, following a White miss, scored for a 113-110 Toronto lead. Grant Williams was stripped on the Celtics’ next possession, but when Siakam missed from deep, the Celtics forward was fouled grabbing a big defensive rebound.
Siakam fouled out on the play, and with 51.4 seconds left Williams hit twice from the line for a one-point margin. Anunoby missed, White lost control of the ball on an open drive, and with 14 seconds left Gary Trent Jr. hit twice from the line for a 115-112 Toronto lead.
Smart and Grant Williams both missed from downtown as the buzzer sounded.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Fred VanVleet cut the Celtics lead to a point (101-100) with three minutes left in regulation. Grant Williams came out of a timeout with a tough drive for the foul and hit once from the line for a 102-100 edge.
But Anunoby scored off a Smart turnover for a 102-102 tie with 1:59 left. Smart fouled Scottie Barnes out of the game and shot 1-for-2 from the line for a 103-102 lead with 1:46 left.
The Raptors came up empty with two misses, and Nesmith, from the left corner with 58 seconds left, buried a corner 3 for a 106-102 lead. Siakam drove to cut the lead to two. Smart lost the ball, and with 12.1 seconds left Nesmith fouled Siakam, who hit twice for the tie. Grant Williams lost the ball, and the clock ran out.
The fourth started in an 80-80 tie, with Siakam entering with 30 points and eight rebounds night and Smart trying to keep the Celtics offense afloat with 24 points.
The Celtics opened the fourth with 3-pointers from White, Sam Hauser and Pritchard for an 89-82 lead. Despite big shots from several Raptors, including another paint jumper from Siakam, the Celtics carried a six-point lead into the last six minutes. Thaddeus Young cut the margin to three with his second trey of the quarter, but Daniel Theis scored four straight points, including a dunk over three Raptors,
Young scored again to cut the score to 99-94, but Theis answered from 15 feet, only for VanVleet to bury back-to-back 3-pointers, the second cutting the Celtics lead to 101-100.
VanVleet’s three-point play off the break after poking the ball away from Pritchard was good for a 59-58 Toronto lead by the half. The Raptors were running on the power of a 25-point first half by Siakam, who easily exploited the size mismatches under the basket. Smart led the Celtics with 18 points, to go along with five turnovers — the latter illustrative of the Celtics’ biggest problem, with 10 giveaways.
The Celtics, again led by Smart, opened the third quarter with a 9-1 run for a brief 67-60 lead, and retook it at 71-70 on Smart’s drive for his 22nd point. The Celtics retook the lead three times in the last 3:40 of the third until, with 51 seconds left, Trent Jr. stole the ball from White and drove for an 80-80 tie.
Their stripped down firepower considered, the Celtics did well to jump out to a 38-30 lead by the end of the first quarter. They withstood an 11-3 Toronto run to get there, with Pritchard scoring seven points over the last 3:48 of the quarter.
They opened the second in worse form, at one stage with three turnovers spread over four possessions as the Raptors were on an 8-0 run, powered primarily by Siakam against the Celtics’ downsized coverage.
Turnovers continued to be an issue, with two more Celtic miscues fueling a fresh 12-3 Toronto run, this time for a 50-47 Raptors lead. The Celtics took the lead four times in the last 1:56 — three of those on Smart scores — before VanVleet poked the ball away from Pritchard and converted a three-point play with 3.3 seconds left in the half for a 59-58 Toronto lead.
