Celtics 125, Raptors 117

 

The surprisingly resilient Boston Celtics may still be four games back from Detroit in the overall Eastern Conference standings, but they've returned to first place in the Atlantic Division with last night's win over the Toronto Raptors.

The Raptors may have sank more three-pointers (18) than the Celtics (14), but they had a much lower percentage than Boston - 38.3% to 50%. They were just chucking from outside like crazy the whole game with 47 three-point attempts and missing most of them. That's generally not a winning strategy.

With the Raptors all hanging around outside the paint, the Celtics easily outrebounded Toronto, 40-31. Hugo González got four of Boston's 40 rebounds, as well as blocking a shot and sinking two buckets, one from outside, in his 18:32 minutes of play off the bench.  

Hauser (19 points) had the hot hand on threes for Boston, going 5-of-7 from outside. Pritchard went  3-for-5 from outside on his way to a team-leading 27 points. Brown was right behind him with 25 points. 

The Celtics are now 24-13, a half-game ahead of the Knicks, who lost last night in Phoenix. They trail the Pistons by four games in the Eastern Conference but will face a test tonight against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, featuring former Celtic Luke Kornet.