Arabnews24.ca:Monday 5 December 2022 10:28 PM: Jayson Tatum had 31 points and 12 rebounds to lift the league-leading Boston Celtics to a 116-110 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Monday.
Pascal Siakam scored 29 points, while Scottie Barnes finished with 21 and Gary Trent Jr., added 20 for the Raptors (12-12), who lost for just the third time at Scotiabank Arena this season. O.G. Anunoby chipped in with 13 points.
Jaylen Brown had 22 points for Boston (20-5).
"I think we totally need to see where we are with these guys," Nurse said pre-game. "They're obviously the best team in the league right now and record and metrics and numbers and historic this and historic that at both ends, and they're playing really good. I think we need to see where we are at."
He had to have been pleased with his team, which kept pace with the Celtics through most of the game, and led by as many as 10 points in the first half.
Marcus Smart found Tatum alone in front of the Raptors bench for an easy three that stretched Boston's lead to 12, but a three-pointer by Trent and three-point play by Barnes pulled Toronto back to within six with 2:12 to play. A Siakam free throw made it a four-point game heading into the final minute.
Neither team led by more than 10 points in a tightly contested first half. The Celtics went ahead by eight late in the first quarter on a three-pointer by Sam Hauser, but the Raptors closed with a 7-0 run and trailed just 27-25 to start the second.
Toronto went on a 10-1 run in the second, capped by a couple of Christian Koloko free throws and then matched virtually every Boston basket the rest of the half to take a 62-56 lead into the halftime break.