Kevin Garnett scored 19 points, Ray Allen had 18 and Michael Finley 14 as the Celtics won their eighth straight over Toronto, sweeping the series for the second consecutive season.
Sonny Weems scored a career-high 21 for the Raptors, who played their first game since All-Star Chris Bosh suffered two facial fractures in Tuesday’s loss at Cleveland.
Things got worse for Toronto when Hedo Turkoglu left late in the first quarter after bumping heads with Boston’s Tony Allen. Turkoglu sustained a nasal contusion and was taken to hospital for a CT scan.
The Raptors’ team doctor, Paul Marks, said before the game that Bosh is expected to need “weeks” to recover from surgery Wednesday to repair his nasal fracture, which happened when he was struck by an inadvertent elbow from Antawn Jamison. Bosh remains in a Cleveland hospital and is scheduled to return to Toronto on Thursday.
Andrea Bargnani, Jarrett Jack and Antoine Wright scored 17 points, and DeMar DeRozan had 14 for the Raptors, who have lost three straight.
Reggie Evans started for Toronto in place of Bosh. Turkoglu returned to the starting lineup in place of Wright, who left Tuesday’s game with a sore left ankle.
But Turkoglu was knocked out of the game late in the first when he was struck in the face by Allen’s head. He scored two points in seven minutes.
Pierce scored nine points as Boston led 30-25 after one. Toronto tied the game with a 7-2 run to start the second, and Wright’s 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left in the half gave the Raptors a 54-52 edge at the break.
Rondo had 11 points in the third as the Celtics carried an 82-76 edge into the final quarter.
Notes
Toronto’s last victory over the Celtics was Jan 23, 2008, a 114-112 win at Boston. … Toronto held an opponent below 25 assists for the first time in six games. The Celtics had 22 assists.