Jaylen Brown led the way in the Celtics' win over the Raptors.
Jaylen Brown led the way in the Celtics' win over the Raptors.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
TORONTO — The Celtics entered Sunday’s game against the Raptors with a four-game winning streak that gained steam as it progressed. Boston never trailed in its wins over the Wizards and Lakers, and most of this matchup unfolded similarly.
Boston took an early lead and stretched it to 23 points early in the third quarter. But this time, turbulence arrived. The Raptors roared back and took a 3-point lead early in the fourth quarter before the Celtics handled the stress test with aplomb.
Boston reclaimed control with a 14-2 burst and secured a 121-113 win, its fifth in a row.
Jaylen Brown had 30 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists to lead the Celtics, and Derrick White added 27 points. The Celtics shot 47.8 percent from the field and made 20 of 47 3-pointers. Brandon Ingram had 30 points to pace Toronto.
The Celtics led, 87-64, points early in the third quarter but the Raptors wasted no time erasing most of that gap. A fast-break layup by Jamal Shead with 10:39 left gave Toronto a 98-97 lead. It was Toronto’s first of the game, and it was the first time in three games that the Celtics faced a deficit.
But with the Raptors up, 102-99, a near-turnover in the right corner turned into a White 3-pointer, and Payton Pritchard added one from a similar spot on the next possession. After a 21-footer by Brown, White and Pritchard added two more 3-pointers to stretch the surge to 14-2 and give the Celtics a 113-104 lead that eventually held up.
The Celtics set the tone with their defense at the start, with Jordan Walsh once again the catalyst. He stole the ball from Ingram three times in the first four minutes. Toronto had five turnovers as a team during that stretch, and the Celtics capitalized in transition. Boston held a 14-2 edge in fast-break points in the opening half.
White further distanced himself from his early-season shooting struggles by hitting his first three shots. He scored 14 points in the first quarter and Boston took a 34-26 lead to the second after tallying four steals and five blocks.
When center Neemias Queta sat late in the first and early in the second, coach Joe Mazzulla once again turned to small-ball lineups rather than backup big men Luka Garza or Xavier Tillman.
The Raptors mostly got to the rim as they pleased against these groupings that featured Walsh or Josh Minott at center, but they did not always convert when they arrived. And at the other end, the Celtics used their speed and skill to overwhelm Toronto. And the Celtics held a 15-2 edge in second-chance points in the first half, anyway.
A 3-pointer by Brown with 3:03 left stretched Boston’s lead to 68-51. The Celtics star had 17 points in the first half and his team took a 77-59 lead to the break after shooting 56.6 percent from the field.
Ingram ignited Toronto’s third-quarter comeback with a fadeaway jumper and a layup. The Raptors made all three 3-point attempts in the quarter and blitzed the Celtics with a 23-4 run that put a jolt into a crowd that had begun to lose interest. Toronto held a 12-0 edge in second-chance points in the period and pulled within 97-91 by the start of the fourth.
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.