Jayson Tatum missed a 15-foot buzzer-beater that would have won Boston the game in regulation Saturday night. Instead, Toronto pushed Boston to overtime.
Tatum didn’t miss twice. On a play that appeared to be designed for Jaylen Brown but he got knocked down (without a foul), Tatum isolated and hit the buzzer-beating game-winner.
“Man, I missed so many shots in the second half, I was bound to hit one,” Tatum told NBC Sports Boston’s Abby Chin in his walk-off interview. “We had a couple options (on the last play). A live catch, we got the scrum action, JB got ran over and I thought they were gonna call a foul. I had to make a play.”
It was a gutty performance from Toronto, which was missing four rotation players (including Scottie Barnes) but dominated in the paint with 72 points. Center Jakob Poeltl led the way for the Raptors with a career-high 35 points, while RJ Barrett recorded his first-ever triple-double with 25 points, 15 assists, and 10 rebounds.
Brown led the Celtics with 27 points while Tatum finished with 24. The win improved Boston to 7-3 on the season.
