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Celtics survive after offensive foul, DeRozan jumper in final seconds

Jaylen Brown, Al Horford

Fans cheer as Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown (7) and Al Horford celebrate after their win over the Toronto Raptors in an NBA basketball game in Boston, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2017. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

AP

Sunday’s game between the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics came down to the wire, but in the end Brad Stevens’ squad came out on top at home for their 12th straight victory.

Boston was without guard Kyrie Irving, who suffered a minor facial fracture this week and underwent a fitting for a mask. He visited a facial specialist on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Celtics played it tight with the Raptors, needing 21 points from Al Horford and another 18 from Jaylen Brown to get the job done.

Boston almost gave it away in the final 15 seconds, with Jayson Tatum committing an offensive foul against Toronto’s Fred VanVleet. Celtics announcers couldn’t believe it when Tatum was whistled for the foul, and audio on the floor featured a kid nearby screaming about it.

Here’s what the foul looked like:

tatum

VanVleet would have to have excellent pop & lock skills to be able to make his neck make that little jolt so convincing. The turnover gave Toronto the ball with 13.4 seconds to go, but neither DeMar DeRozan nor Serge Ibaka could find the basket at the end of the game:

Boston beat Toronto, 95-94.