Irving too much for Raptors to handle

BOSTON — Kyrie Irving had a seasonhigh 43 points, scoring 17 in the last 8:06 of the fourth quarter to force overtime and then making or recording an assist on every basket in the extra period Friday night to lead the Boston Celtics to a 123-116 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

Irving had 11 assists, and Jayson Tatum scored 21 with seven rebounds for the Celtics. Boston evened the season series at one game apiece against the only team to finish above it in the Eastern Conference last season. The home team has won nine straight matchups.

Kawhi Leonard scored 31 with a seasonhigh 15 rebounds for Toronto, which has lost three straight since opening the season with 12 victories in its first 13 games. Serge Ibaka scored 21 and Pascal Siakam had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Raptors, who never led in overtime.

Gordon Hayward scored 15 points with five rebounds and five assists in a team-high 39 minutes – by far his biggest workload since the injury that knocked him out in the first quarter of the first game last season.

Hayward hit a pair of free throws to open the overtime, Ibaka answered with a jumper and from there it was all Celtics. Hayward scored on a pass from Irving, then Irving rescued Tatum from a near-turnover and drive for the layup to give Boston a 113-109 lead.

The Raptors never got closer than three points after that.

UP NEXT Raptors: Celtics:

Visit the Chicago Bulls tonight. Host the Utah Jazz tonight.