The Celtics preseason finale was a fun one. After taking a big lead late, the Celtics let the game slip away before Xavier Tillman Sr. saved the day with a game winning floater over the Raptors. Boston beat Toronto, 110-108.
BOSTON WINS IT ‼️
— NBA (@NBA) October 16, 2025
Xavier Tillman hits the GAME-WINNING floater with 0.8 seconds left 🤯 https://t.co/RKWPV7pvHZ pic.twitter.com/8Hzz9lNmS2
It was the first time we got to see the Celtics take the floor against a team’s starting lineup. The Raptors started their projected starting five
of Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Brandon Ingram, Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl. For the Celtics, it was Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Chris Boucher (in his 2nd revenge game) and Neemias Queta. Sam Hauser did not play.
The Celtics opened up the scoring with an 11-point lead, led by 5 points from Jaylen Brown and 4 points from Derrick White.
Anfernee Simons, Luka Garza and Josh Minott were the first three guys off of the bench for the Celtics. Hugo Gonzalez checked in a little later and had a nice spinning layup.
HUGO pic.twitter.com/1TYiwOMnGb
— NikNBA🏀 (@NIKNBAYT) October 16, 2025
The Celtics jumped off to a 30-19 lead, but a 6-0 Toronto run cut the lead to 5. Derrick White led the team in scoring with 12, while Gonzalez had 5 off of the bench.
Meanwhile, Jaylen Brown departed the game during the first quarter with left hamstring tightness and did not return after being listed as doubtful.
Payton Prichard was passing the ball well during the first half with 8 assists, including one dime on a nice backdoor cut from Jordan Walsh with Raptors big man Jonathan Mogbo was caught ball watching.
Neemias Queta had a great half: 6 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks. The Celtics took a 52-50 lead into the locker room.
Welcome to Neemias Queta's block party 💪
— NBA (@NBA) October 16, 2025
4 rejections… in 1 half. pic.twitter.com/u9DRcfZobw
Baylor Scheierman replaced Brown in the 2nd half starting lineup.
Queta’s strong play continued into the third quarter. Defensive rebounding is the key for him this season; if he can consistently be in the correct position and rebound well, Boston will be much better off for it.
Chris Boucher had an awesome block mid way through the quarter, capping off really strong preseason.
Boucher is fun pic.twitter.com/ykX35jygzm
— Pull up shoot (@NElGHT_) October 16, 2025
At the end of the third quarter, the Celtics led the Raptors, 79-75. Derrick White was the only Celtic in double figures at that point in the game with 25 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.
White has a chance to flirt with triple-doubles all season long and I thought he was the best player on the court Wednesday night. White was all over the court all night, blocking shots, running the offense, making shots. He looks ready to have a huge year this season and certainly flirt with being an All-Star.
Derrick White block.
— NBA (@NBA) October 16, 2025
Derrick White triple.
He's up to 30p/9r/5a/4b for the C's on NBA TV 👀 pic.twitter.com/wX0G9tX0IR
White finished the game with 33 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.
It was looking like we would have a really fun preseason finish, but then Darko Rajaković pulled his starters with 5 minutes left in the game, in a very lame move.
Meanwhile, Mazzulla ran a 12-man rotation, all of the players that are on the active roster that were in uniform played in the game. It will be interesting to see if that carries over to the regular season or not.
A late Celtics collapse let the Raptors back in the game, created by the Celtics inability to break a press, but it all led to a Xaiver Tillman game winning floater. It was Tillman’s 2nd Celtics game winner.
The Celtics shot 39% from the field and 29% from three while the Raptors shot 40% from the field and 30% from three. The Celtics open up the regular season next Wednesday, October 22nd, at 7:30 EST against the Philadelphia 76ers at TD Garden.
