Toronto, ON – Doc Rivers tallied his 400th win as a Boston head coach, as Kevin Garnett had 27 points and 10 rebounds in the Celtics' 99-95 win over the Toronto Raptors.
"That's pretty special," Rivers said of his monumental win.
Courtney Lee added 15 points for Boston, which has won five in a row since standout point guard Rajon Rondo went down. The Celtics had dropped six straight prior to the Rondo injury.
Paul Pierce finished with 12 points, 11 boards and six assists in the triumph.
Rudy Gay posted 25 points, 12 rebounds and four steals for the Raptors, who have dropped 10 of their last 13 contests.
"We didn't start with any hunger or fight and we didn't close it out in the fourth quarter. The bench has to step up," Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said.
Boston, which trailed by 10 heading into the fourth, was down 85-81 after Alan Anderson hit a bank shot with 6:59 to go.
The Celtics, though, countered with a 13-4 run and took their first lead of the final frame in the process.
Leandro Barbosa's 3-pointer and pull-up bank shot on back-to-back possessions gave the visitors an 86-85 advantage midway through the stanza before he capped the burst with a layup to make it 94-89 with less than two minutes to play.
Gay's tip-in pulled the Raptors within 96-93 with 42.7 seconds to play and Pierce missed at the other end, but DeMar DeRozan stepped out of bounds on Toronto's ensuing trip down the floor and Jeff Green split a pair of free throws to seal the win for Boston.
The Raptors led 23-20 after a quarter of play, but Boston outscored the hosts 30-22 in the second before taking a 50-45 edge into the break.
Toronto outscored the Celts 34-19 in the third.
Game Notes
Rivers' 400 wins are third in team history, behind Tom Heinsohn and Red Auerbach ... It was Gay's first double-double as a Raptor ... Toronto fell to 16-8 on the year when going into the fourth with a lead.
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