The Celtics arrived home from their dominant road trip with a little bit of jet lag and some injuries to their key players. Luckily, the schedule-makers rewarded them with a couple of inferior opponents who couldn’t close the deal on them.

The Celtics certainly did not make things easy on themselves in a home back-to-back against two of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference, but they survived both games anyway. After narrowly avoiding history by holding off the Pistons on Thursday, the shorthanded Celtics came back a night later and coughed up a huge lead against the Raptors. But they made enough plays in crunch time to hold on for a 120-118 victory, pushing their undefeated home record to 16-0.

Jaylen Brown led the way with 31 points, Derrick White scored 21 points and added seven assists as he overcame a woeful 5-for-19 shooting night, and Luke Kornet had a breakout game with 20 points and eight rebounds in his first start in more than two years as the Celtics barely survived the absences of Jayson Tatum, Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford to move to a league-best 25-6.

The Celtics held a lead as large as 20 in the first half, led by 15 at halftime and had a double-digit advantage for most of the third quarter. Brown produced a loud dunk to end the third that put the Celtics up 13, and though the Raptors were lingering, the C’s seemed to be in full control.

But as Brown headed to the bench to start the fourth quarter, the Raptors made their charge as the Celtics lost their defensive footing. White continued his shooting struggles and committed a turnover within the first 75 seconds of the fourth as the Raptors went on a quick 10-0 run, fueled by eight points from Jalen McDaniels. They took a 104-102 lead on Dennis Schroder’s 3-pointer capped an 18-3 Raptors run and forced a Celtics timeout.

Brown returned after the timeout, but the Celtics continued to play catch-up, unable to find any momentum. But they scrapped and stayed within one possession. And as the game entered crunch time, they continued to trust White even on an off night. They trailed by two when a long offensive possession put the ball in White’s hands with the shot clock winding down. Despite being 3-for-16 at that moment, he unleashed a pull-up, desperation 3-pointer. Of course, it went in.

McDaniels hit another 3-pointer to put the Raptors up 113-110 with 2:38 left before Brown’s strong drive brought the Celtics back within two. After a defensive stop, White was fouled with 1:38 remaining and made both free throws. After another stop, White found a lane to the hoop and made a layup to put the C’s up three with a minute left.

But the Raptors weren’t done. Scottie Barnes hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 48 seconds left. But the C’s responded with perfect execution on their ensuing play, as Brown found Kornet for an alley-oop to take a 118-116 lead.

On the ensuing possession, Schroder was fouled but missed his first of two free throws as the Celtics hung onto a one-point lead. Jrue Holiday was fouled the other way but made just one of two for a 119-117 lead. After a Raptors timeout, Barnes found an open lane to the basket but smoked the layup.

Holiday corralled the rebound and was fouled again. But after making his first free throw, he missed the second. It appeared time expired as the Raptors’ last-second heave came after the buzzer, but the officials ruled that White had fouled Pascal Siakam on the rebound, giving him two free throws with 1.4 seconds left down three. He made the first and missed the second, but the Raptors couldn’t get a shot before the final horn sounded.

Some other takeaways from the win:

– The Celtics seemed to miss Brown in Thursday’s win over the Pistons, at least during their ugly start. A night later, he showed why in his return from a one-game absence due to a lower back contusion.

The C’s often start fast behind Brown, and Friday was no exception. He scored 15 points, including drilling his first four 3-pointers that catapulted the Celtics to a huge start. He scored 24 points in the first half – above his per-game season average – and added six rebounds and four assists in the opening 24 minutes as the C’s commanded a double-digit lead throughout the half and a 15-point advantage at halftime.

– While Kornet – who missed four games earlier this month due to an adductor injury – was deemed healthy enough to play in the Celtics’ two previous games, Neemias Queta still got the backup minutes over him. But with Porzingis and Horford both out Friday, Kornet earned his first start since 2021. He took full advantage, and looked as if he was trying to make up for lost time. He recorded a block on the game’s opening possession, and was hustling all over the place – diving for loose balls and crashing the glass.

Kornet’s teammates continuously found him for easy baskets, too. He scored 13 points in the first half, which included several buckets during a stretch in which the Celtics seemed to be orchestrating a layup line on the Raptors, as they kept cutting through them with ease.

– While Mazzulla acknowledged Friday that Queta has been picking up the Celtics’ defensive principles well considering the limited playing time in his career, the young big man can’t seem to stop getting called for goaltending violations. He was whistled for two of them within a 24-second span in the second quarter. Queta has been called for several goaltending violations in the last few weeks since he earned a bigger role.