Both the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins were on the road Tuesday night with games at Toronto and Detroit, respectively.
In Toronto at Air Canada Center, the Raptors built a 21 point halftime lead by outscoring the Celtics 36-19 in the second quarter and cruised to a 111-91 win, to pull within one game of Boston in the Eastern Conference standings.
Boston (39-16) did put five players in double figures led by Terry Rozier who had 18 points, five rebounds and four assists. Kyrie Irving returned from a two game absence with a quad injury to score 17 points and dish out three assists. Marcus Morris chipped in 12, Jaylen Brown 11, and Daniel Theis had 10.
Kyle Lowry led all scorers for the 37-16 Raptors with 23 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. Demar Derozan added 15 points, three rebounds, and six assists. Delon Wright chipped in 14 points.
The Celtics visit Washington Thursday night to battle the Wizards at 8 p.m.
At Detroit, the Bruins spotted the Detroit Red Wings a 1-0 lead in the second and battled back for a 3-2 win at Joe Louis Arena.
Sean Kuraly and David Krejci scored in the second period 2:06 apart to give the Bruins the lead 2-1, and then Danton Heinen scored what proved to be the game winner in the third period. Martin Frk had a powerplay goal, and Frans Neilsen scored with 1:24 left in the game with the goalie pulled for an extra attacker for the 21-23-8 Red Wings.
Tuuka Rask stopped 26 of 28 shots in the win for Boston, who improve to 32-11-8. Jimmy Howard stopped 28 of 31 in the loss for Detroit.
Boston visits Madison Square Garden Wednesday night to battle the Rangers at 8 p.m.
