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 was knocked down (no foul), Tatum isolated and hit the buzzer-beating game-winner.
“Man, I missed so many shots in the second half, I had to hit one,” Tatum told NBC Sports Boston’s Abby Chin in his walk-on interview. “We had some options (on the last play). Live catch, we got the scrimmage, JB got run over and I thought they were going to call a foul. I had to make a play.”
It was a gutsy 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 victory improved Boston to 7-3 on the season.
