LOS ANGELES (AFP) — R.J. Barrett scored 22 points as the lowly Toronto Raptors turned the tables on the Boston Celtics with a dominant 110-97 victory over the reigning National Basketball Association (NBA) champions on Wednesday.
The Raptors, who are languishing three places off the bottom of the Eastern Conference, grabbed only their 10th win of the season after stifling Boston’s offense at the Scotiabank Arena.
Barrett spearheaded a balanced offensive display by Toronto, spreading the ball deftly as all five Raptors starters finished in double figures.
The win came as sweet revenge for Toronto, who had been on the receiving end of a brutal 125-71 mauling by the Celtics in Boston on 31 December.
“It was a tough loss for us in Boston,” Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said afterwards.
“This group is very connected and is a very prideful group — so we really wanted to go out there and compete at the highest level. Everybody contributed tonight.”
Barrett, who also had 10 rebounds and eight assists, was given scoring support from Scottie Barnes with 18 points, while Jakob Poeltl finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
The Raptors defense, meanwhile, kept Boston star Jayson Tatum quiet, restricting the Celtics ace to just 16 points from 5-of-15 shooting.
Toronto improved to 10-31 in the Eastern Conference standings, while Boston dropped to 28-12 to fall 6.5 games behind leaders Cleveland (34-5) at the top of the table.