Jaylen Brown scored 30 points, Derrick White scored 14 of his 27 in the first quarter and the Boston Celtics beat Toronto 121-113 on Sunday, holding on late after blowing a 23-point lead in the second half.

The Celtics won their fifth straight Sunday in Toronto, taking down the Raptors to vault into third place in the Eastern Conference.

The Boston Celtics entered Sunday’s game against the Toronto Raptors on a four-game winning streak. They were looking to push it to five against Toronto.

Over his next nine games, including that NBA Cup performance, Hart averaged 15.7 points, 9.4 rebounds, 6.4 assists, and 1.8 steals in 34.3 minutes per game. He shot 55.3% from the field (45% from deep) with a 65% effective field goal rate. His defensive rating also improved to 113.7, and his Player Impact Estimate was up to 14.6.

Toronto was outscored 77-59 in the first half and won the second 55-44. The Raptors committed eight turnovers in the first half, five in the second. They were passive observers for most of the first two quarters, then put their will into the third and fourth.

The Toronto Raptors and the New York Knicks are heading towards an exciting NBA Cup quarterfinal showdown at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday, December 9. The Raptors will welcome the Knicks following a major 86-111 heartbreak against the Charlotte Hornets. Despite LaMelo Ball’s ankle injury, the Hornets made the Raptors’ young core fall short.

It turned out to be an unexpectedly memorable matchup when the Charlotte Hornets last met the Toronto Raptors on November 29th at Spectrum Center. Admittedly, not for the first three quarters, when it seemed like the highly favored Raptors would take home an easy win.