Boston Celtics at Toronto Raptors

Celtics roll past Raptors 112-94, take 1-0 East semis lead

Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart each scored 21 points, Kemba Walker added 18 points and 10 assists and the Celtics never trailed on the way to beating the Raptors 112-94 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series on Sunday.

"You got a team like Toronto, the defending champs, a really, really good team and they know what it takes ... you have to be locked in even more," Smart said. "And that's just (what) we try to come out and do."

Toronto is 0-2 against Boston at Disney, losing by a combined 40 points and not leading for a single moment in those two games. The Raptors are 11-0 at Disney against everybody else.

"We're not even in the ballpark of doing that yet," Stevens said. We won one game."

Kyle Lowry had 17 points for Toronto, which got 15 from Serge Ibaka, 13 from Pascal Siakam on a day where he was slowed big-time by early foul trouble and 12 from OG Anunoby. The Raptors were outscored 51-30 from 3-point range.

Lowry said the toll of the events of recent days and weeks, including the three-day stoppage of play last week in response to the shooting by police in Wisconsin of Jacob Blake, a Black man, is weighing heavily on players.

"Basketball always matters, but in this situation, at this time, it's taking a backseat," Lowry said. "Yes, it's our job and we're going to go out there and perform at the highest level we can possibly perform at. There's no excuses, but we have an obligation right now to use our platform. That's why we're still here."

The final moments of the second and third quarters gave Boston big lifts.

Down by 13 late in the third, Toronto couldn't control a rebound and extended a Boston possession with 3.1 seconds left. Tatum hit a baseline jumper as time expired, and the lead was 88-73 going into the final 12 minutes.

"Tough day for us, right?" Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "Nothing was much fun out there today."

TIP-INS

Celtics: Boston has now won seven consecutive Game 1s, the longest such streak for the Celtics since taking 11 consecutive 1-0 series leads between the start of the 1985 playoffs and the 1987 NBA Finals. ... Theis had 15 rebounds, total, in the first-round sweep of Philadelphia.

LOPSIDED

MORE TRIBUTES

As was the case Saturday, the NBA paid pregame tribute to the recent deaths of former player Clifford Robinson, Hall of Fame coach Lute Olsen and beloved actor Chadwick Boseman with a pregame moment of silence. The Raptors and Celtics knelt for that moment and the playings of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "O Canada" that immediately followed. The tribute and anthems took just over four minutes. "It was very sad to see him leave us so early," Ibaka said of Boseman.

UP NEXT

Game 2 is Tuesday.

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Regular Season Series

BOS wins series 3-1