Toronto Raptors (43-34) at Boston Celtics (52-25)
Sunday, April 5, 2026
3:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game #78 Home Game #38
TV: NBCSB, Sportsnet, NBA-TV
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub,TSN 1050, Sirius XM
TD Garden
Boston, MA
Toronto Raptors (43-34) at Boston Celtics (52-25) Game #78 4/5/26
The Celtics return home to take on the division rival Toronto Raptors. This is the 4th, and final meeting between these two teams this season. The Celtics won 121-113 on December 7 in Toronto. They won 112-96 on December 20, also in Toronto. They won 125-117 on January 9 in Boston. The Celtics have won their last 8 games against the Raptors in Boston. The Celtics won the series 3-1 last season, losing one game in Toronto. The Celtics are 76-43 overall all time and they are 45-14 in games played in Boston.
The Raptors made 2 minor deals at the trade deadline . They traded Ochai Agbaji to the Clippers for Chris Paul, who they then waived and CP3 chose to retire. Similar to several of the Celtics deadline deals, this was to bring the Raptors under the tax line. They also traded a second round pick to the Warriors for Trayce Jackson-Davis to fill the need for a back up center.
The Celtics are 2nd in the East, 4.5 games behind 1st place Detroit. They are 2.5 games ahead of 3rd place New York, 4 games ahead of 4th place Cleveland, 7.5 games ahead of 5th place Atlanta, and 9 games ahead of 6th place Toronto and 9.5 games ahead of 7th place Philadelphia. The Celtics are 33-15 against Eastern Conference opponents. They are 26-11 at home and 8-2 in their last 10 games. They have won their last 2 games.
The Raptors are 6th in the East, 6.5 games behind 3rd place New York, 5 games behind 4th place Cleveland, and 1.5 games behind 5th place Atlanta. They are half a game ahead of 7th place Philadelphia, 1.5 games ahead of 8th place Charlotte, and 2 games ahead of 9th place Orlando. They are 30-17 against Eastern Conference opponents. They are 22-17 on the road and 5-5 in their last 10 games. They are coming off a win in their last game.
After this game at home against Toronto they will host Charlotte before one game on the road at New York. They will finish the season with 2 games at home against New Orleans and Orlando. After this game on the road at Boston for Toronto, they will return home to play 2 games against Miami. They will then play at New York before finishing the season at home against Brooklyn.
After being out 4 weeks due to surgery to stabilize a fracture in his right ring finger, Nikola Vucevic has been upgraded to questionable for this game. His status will be a game time decision. For the Raptors, Chucky Hepburn is out due to a torn meniscus in his right knee. Immanuel Quickley will miss his eighth straight game due to right foot plantar fasciitis.
Probable Starting Matchups
PG: Derrick White vs Ja’Kobe Walter

SG: Jaylen Brown vs RJ Barrett


SF: Sam Hauser vs Brandon Ingram


PF: Jayson Tatum vs Scottie Barnes


C: Neemias Queta vs Jakob Poeltl


Celtics Reserves
Payton Pritchard
Hugo Gonzalez
Luka Garza
Amare Williams
Jordan Walsh
Baylor Scheierman
Max Shulga
John Tonje
Ron Harper, Jr
2-Way Players
None
Injuries/Out
Nikola Vucevic (finger) questionable
Head Coach
Joe Mazzulla
Raptors Reserves
Jamison Battle
Gradey Dick
Trayce Jackson-Davis
Sandro Mamukelashvili
Jonathan Mogbo
Collin Murray-Boyles
Jamal Shead
Garrett Temple
2 Way Players
Chucky Hepburn
AJ Lawson
Alijah Martin
Injuries/Out
Chucky Hepburn (knee) out
Immanuel Quickley (foot) out
Head Coach
Darko Rajakovic
Key Matchups
Sam Hauser vs Brandon Ingram
Ingram is averaging 21.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game while shooting 47.2% from the field and 37.7% from beyond the arc. In the 2 games against the Celtics this season, he averaged 27 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists while shooting 56.8% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc. The Celtics need to do a better job of defending him in this game.
Jayson Tatum vs Scottie Barnes
Barnes is averaging 18.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 50.4% from the field and 29.6% from beyond the arc. In the 2 games against the Celtics this season, he averaged 15 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 40.7% from the field and 16.7% from beyond the arc. Although he has been struggling to hit 3’s, he is capable of hitting them if left open.
Honorable Mention
Jaylen Brown vs RJ Barrett
Barrett is averaging 19.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 49.5% from the field and 34.6% from beyond the arc. He played in just 1 game against the Celtics this season and finished with 19 points, 4 rebounds, and 7 assists while shooting 40% from the field and 60% from beyond the arc. The Celtics have to defend him better in this game.
Keys to the Game
Defense – Defense is the most important key to winning. The Celtics are 4th in the league with a defensive rating of 111.8. The Raptors are 7th with a defensive rating of 114.7. The Celtics must stay committed to playing tough, lock down defense, especially against a Raptors team that plays good defense themselves. The Celtics must especially defend in the paint as the Raptors put up 53 points in the paint per game (5th).
Rebound – As with defense, rebounding will always be a key to winning every game. The Celtics are 4th with 46.5 rebounds per game. The Raptors are 23rd with 42.2 rebounds per game. The Celtics will need to rebound as a team with players crashing the boards from every position. The Celtics can’t score without the ball and rebounding is a great way to get the ball and to get extra possessions and to also deny the Raptors extra possessions and 2nd chance points.
Move the Ball Carefully – The Celtics are at their best when the ball moves and they make the extra pass. When the ball sticks and players try to do too much, the Celtics struggle. They are 34-2 this season when they have 25 or more assists and they are 18-0 when they have 29 or more assists. The Raptors are 2nd with 29.5 assists per game. But, the Celtics have to make careful passes and not get sloppy because the Raptors are 5th in the league, averaging 20 points off turnovers and 18.9 fast break points per game (1st).
Play with Energy and Focus for 48 Minutes – The Celtics must play with effort and energy and they have to play harder than the Raptors for all 4 quarters. The team that plays the hardest and that is more aggressive will usually get a better whistle. They also must stay focused on taking good shots and making them. If the 3’s are falling, they are tough to beat. But, if the 3’s aren’t falling, it can get ugly and so the Celtics need to focus on taking the best shots, whether that means shooting more 3’s or taking the ball into the paint if they aren’t falling.
Home Game – The Celtics are once again home and they should get a boost from the home crowd and they have the benefit of not having to travel. The Raptors are playing in the 2nd straight game on the road and may be a little road weary. They also have the distractions of travel, staying in hotels, and playing in front of a hostile crowd.
Officiating – The officiating can always be an x-factor. Every crew calls the game differently. Some call it tight with a lot of fouls while others let them play and let a lot of contact go. The Celtics have to adapt to how the game is being called and not allow bad calls and no calls to take away their focus on playing the game. If they play well enough, the refs won’t make a difference.
Boston, MA
GBH Daily: Come sail away
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🥵Very hot, with highs around 97 degrees. Sunset is at 8:19 p.m.
GBH’s Dan Murphy captured Abby Evangelista and her corgi, Rocko, at Sail250 this weekend. “Rocko gets dressed up for lots of occasions … sometimes just to go to the store, and he does so great with meeting people,” Evangelista said. Keep reading for more photos from the tall ships.
A year ago today firefighters were extinguishing flames at the Gabriel House, an assisted living facility in Fall River. Ten people died in the fire, a tragedy for their loved ones and a scary moment for about 18,000 people who live in assisted living facilities across the state.
Now state officials have created new regulations for fire safety in assisted living facilities, going into effect later this month. Fire departments will inspect these facilities once a year, and facilities will need to submit emergency plans and train their workers on what to do in case of a fire.
GBH’s Craig LeMoult found that neither the new regulations nor state or federal fire codes address checking sprinkler systems. Some of the sprinklers at the Gabriel House weren’t working the night of the fire, including the ones in the room where it started.
“Had the sprinklers functioned properly, we’re not having this conversation right now. It is maybe a single fatality fire, but certainly not more than that,” Fall River fire chief Jeffrey Bacon told LeMoult. “The good news is that some of the sprinklers did function. And had they not, we would be here talking about 20, 30, 40 victims.” You can read the full story here.
Four Things to Know
1. Colleagues and friends are remembering Louisa Gag, a Boston transportation planner killed last week when a truck driver hit her as she rode her bike near the Roxbury Crossing MBTA stop. Gag grew up in Roslindale and worked for the city on expanding the BlueBikes bike-share program. Before that, she worked for the LivableStreets Alliance, co-authoring a plan to help cities stop traffic deaths. You can see her talk about her work in this 2019 video.
“In moments like these, there is a tendency to reduce the person to the way they died and to their activism,” said Stacy Thompson, a former executive director of LivableStreets. “While we may know Louisa as a deep champion of the city and a close advocate, she’s also a Boston Latin [School] kid. She’s also, like, the most infectious, hilarious person you’ve ever met. She’s also a daughter. It’s so important to us right now for her life to not be reduced to how she stopped living.”
2. More than 4,000 nurses are back at work at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. They went on a one-day strike last week, and hospital administrators kept them from returning to their jobs for another five days. The Massachusetts Nurses Association and Brigham management have been negotiating a contract for seven months, going back and forth over wages, health insurance premiums and staffing levels.
“It’s exciting, but also frightening,” said Christine Forgeron, a cardiac nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “I don’t know what to expect when we go back to our patients. What happens next, because we still don’t have a contract,is the most unsettling part.”
3. Michael Walsh, a Republican candidate for state attorney general, will be on the primary ballot in September despite what Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Karp called “substantial evidence in the record of voter fraud.” The case began when Adam Roof, executive director of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, submitted a complaint accusing a signature gatherer Walsh’s campaign hired of either falsifying or not meeting state requirements for 1,021 of the 10,677 signatures they submitted. Candidates for statewide office need 10,000 signatures to get onto the ballot.
Karp said that there was indeed evidence that the signatures came not from voters themselves but from a list of registered voters the state’s Republican party gave the signature gatherer. But the case fell on a technicality: state law required Roof, the Democratic party official, to submit his complaint by certified mail, and he did not do so. The state’s highest court still has to decide what will happen to Anne Manning Martin, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor who used the same signature gatherer.
4. Residents of towns around the Quabbin Reservoir flooded into the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority meeting last week to ask for a better deal. The Quabbin supplies clean drinking water for dozens of cities and towns in the eastern part of the state. Right now, the state requires towns like Shrewsbury, Belchertown, Orange and Pelham to keep their development in check to keep the Quabbin clean. Though those towns get some money in return, local officials said it’s not enough to cover their costs.
“We are protecting this watershed by foregoing any type of economic development, which is a cornerstone of providing the basics of education [and] public safety,” said state Rep. Aaron Saunders, of Belchertown. “It’s time for a change, and not an incremental one.”
Tall ships sail into Boston
Dan Murphy / GBH News
Tomorrow is the last full day of Sail Boston, the city’s tall ships celebration. The ships will leave our harbor Thursday morning. GBH photographer Dan Murphy was there over the weekend to capture the Parade of Sail.
Dan Murphy / GBH News
The Esmeralda, a ship from Chile, sailed by Castle Island.
Dan Murphy / GBH News
Carolyn Gustine carried her son, Patrick, on her shoulders.
You can see the full photo essay here.
Dig deeper:
–Spectators line Cape Cod Canal to see tall ships make their way to Sail250 in Boston
–The World Cup transformed Greater Boston. Will it last?
–Department of Agricultural Resources celebrates Ice Cream Trail program
GBH Daily
Boston, MA
Boston man charged after allegedly assaulting Burger King employee, punching customer
Local News
The customer, who was evaluated for “visible lacerations to the forehead,” was punched three times while being called racial slurs, prosecutors say.
AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File
A Boston man is facing charges after he allegedly lunged at a Burger King employee, punched a customer, and then resisted arrest at a nearby MBTA station in East Boston, authorities announced Monday afternoon.
Patrick Donovan, 59, was charged July 1 with one count of assault and battery causing injury on an over 60 or disabled person, assault and battery, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, assault, and vandalism, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office said in a press release.
The charges stem from an incident shortly before 10 p.m. on June 30, when Boston police responded to a disturbance call from Burger King at 1 Maverick Square, Hayden’s office said.
A Burger King employee told officers that, after ordering his food and receiving it, Donovan yelled that he no longer wanted it and smacked a napkin holder off the counter. He then allegedly lunged at an employee and grabbed her by the arm, prosecutors said.
Donovan subsequently shoved a customer from behind and allegedly punched him in the face three times while calling him racial slurs, the DA’s office said.
Emergency medical services evaluated the customer for “visible lacerations to the forehead,” but the victim declined additional treatment, authorities said.
Donovan fled the restaurant following the assaults, and officers tracked him to the nearby MBTA Maverick Station, prosecutors said.
“While officers tried to detain Donovan inside the station, he swung at them with a closed fist but did not make contact,” Hayden’s office said, noting that Donovan made racial slurs towards the officers. “Donovan was placed into custody after a brief struggle.”
During his arraignment in the East Boston division of the Boston Municipal Court, Donovan pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance. Court records show he was also ordered to stay away from Maverick Square and Burger King.
He is scheduled to return to court Aug. 7 for a pre-trial hearing, prosecutors said.
Officers obtained security footage of both assaults. Authorities said the incident remains under investigation and could result in further charges.
“Our workers deserve to be safe in their workplaces and our consumers deserve to be safe in their shopping or dining places, without exception,” Hayden said in a statement. “Beyond that, none of our citizens or first responders should be subjected to racial slurs. These appalling words have no place in Suffolk County or anywhere else in our society.”
Attorney information for Donovan was not immediately available Monday afternoon.
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Boston, MA
Rideshare driver charged in Logan airport passenger assault to appear in court
A rideshare driver suspected of assaulting a passenger at Boston Logan International Airport on Friday is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday.
Leonard Bacon, 23, was found in Lowell, where he lives, and taken into custody on Sunday, Massachusetts State Police said. He’s charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Bacon, who’s due to face the charge in East Boston District Court, had an attorney who could speak for him.
Police didn’t share more details on what Bacon is accused of doing. They’ve previously said that the rideshare passenger entered Terminal C just before 5:30 a.m. and reported that they had been physically assaulted by their driver prior to being dropped off.
After the passenger got out of the vehicle, the rideshare driver left the scene, according to police, who alerted area law enforcement agencies to look out for the suspect. The victim was taken to a Boston-area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police added.
Police are looking for a rideshare driver who was reported to have assaulted a passenger right before drop-off at Boston’s Logan airport.
In a statement, Uber said they’ve checked in with the rider and removed the driver’s access to their rideshare platform.
“We are horrified by this reported violence,” a representative for the company said in a statement, adding, “Our specialized team has been in touch with law enforcement, and we will continue to do whatever we can to support their investigation.”
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