Three Studs, Three Duds as Celtics suffer horrific loss to Raptors

The Boston Celtics failed to take advantage of the tanking Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena.

Boston handed Toronto its worst loss (125-71) in franchise history on New Year’s Eve, which also extended the Raptors’ losing streak to 11 straight. This time it wasn’t a battle between draft board stalkers and title contenders, as Toronto performed like a team with pride and got Boston to extend its ongoing slide — the Celtics have been the seventh-worst 3-point shooting team (32.8%) since the start of 2025.

Joe Mazzulla’s starting five was unable to match the vengeful intensity displayed by the Raptors, and as a result, the Celtics fell to 28-12 on the campaign.

Here are three nits and three duds from Boston’s 110-97 loss over Toronto:

STUDIES
RJ Barrett
Toronto was not flashy, but very efficient, which perfectly describes its leading scorer.

Barrett finished with 22 points on a solid 10-of-18 shooting from the field. The 24-year-old nearly secured a triple-double, grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out eight assists, while also recording a steal and a block. Barrett’s night was enough to prompt the Raptors to force Mazzulla to surrender and unload the bench for the final 1:22 minutes of the contest.

Jayson Tatum
Where Tatum fell short — shooting 5-of-15 from the floor — the five-time All-Star made up for in other areas.

Tatum tied for the 20th double-double this season, scoring 16 points with 10 rebounds and seven assists. Boston couldn’t support Tatum’s ball-moving initiative, and the 26-year-old couldn’t carry the burden of making up for the remaining members of the starting lineup — Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday — who combined for just 46 points with eight turnovers .

Payton Pritchard
Boston didn’t get a whole lot of help off the bench, but Pritchard came back to turn in a sixth-man-like performance.

Pritchard provided a reserve unit that led 20 points, going 7-of-11 from the field, including four 3-pointers with two rebounds, four assists and a steal. The undersized guard revved up his engine to lift the Celtics through their (many) mundane stretches to keep the scoreboard deficit possible.

DUDS
Derrick White
If anyone has felt the head of a cold streak, it’s White.

The 30-year-old, again, didn’t just do it in his All-Star campaign, as White struggled to find any offensive rhythm.

Boston’s defense in the third quarter
Another night, another instance of the Celtics being plagued by their inability to take advantage of a poor opponent to the highest degree.

Toronto took advantage of Boston’s penchant for avoiding interior scoring, shooting 11-of-13 from inside the perimeter and a tame 2-of-4 from three to score 33 points in the frame. It was a pretty awful showing from the Celtics’ defense, especially coming out of the break trailing a team closer to landing Cooper Flagg than a playoff berth.

The Raptors entered the fourth quarter shooting an astounding 77% from the field while also holding a 10-point lead.

Sam Hauser
The Celtics received a throw away from Hauser.

Hauser’s 16 minutes on the court was 16 too many as Mazzulla had no reason to play him from start to finish. The sharpshooter had a measly 3-point night, shooting 1-of-5 from beyond the arc with six rebounds. Hauser was no threat from his usual domain — the corner — and that added to the dumpster-pile performance the Celtics tried to get away with logging against one of the NBA’s weakest opponents.