The Celtics got one starter back for their final game of 2024, but their big man in the middle remained sidelined.

Center Kristaps Porzingis missed Boston’s New Year’s Eve matchup with the Toronto Raptors as he recovered from an ankle sprain suffered on Christmas Day. It was the third straight DNP and 22nd of the season for Porzingis, who sat out the first 17 games after offseason leg surgery and has been injured three times since his Nov. 25 season debut.

Center Kristaps Porzingis missed his third straight game as he recovered from an ankle sprain suffered on Christmas Day. It was the 22nd DNP of the season for Porzingis, who sat out the first 17 games after offseason leg surgery and has been injured three times since his Nov. 25 season debut.

Porzingis’ absence Tuesday continued an unfortunate streak for the Celtics, who have yet to play a full game this season with their top eight rotation players all available.

Starting guard Jrue Holiday returned to action against Toronto after missing the previous three games with a right shoulder impingement.

The 34-year-old Holiday is one of the NBA’s best perimeter defenders, and the Celtics were torched by two opposing guards in his absence, with Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey racking up 33 points and 12 assists on Christmas and Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton scoring 31 on 11-of-19 shooting on Sunday. Boston lost both games.

Tuesday’s home game was the Celtics’ last at TD Garden before they begin their first Western Conference road trip of the season. They’ll visit the Minnesota Timberwolves, Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets over the next week.

All four of those teams entered Tuesday inside the playoff picture in the West, with OKC and Houston owning the second- and sixth-best records in the NBA. The Celtics entered the Toronto matchup with a 23-9 record, five games back of Cleveland for first place in the East and just a half-game ahead of the third-place New York Knicks.

The rebuilding Raptors came in at 7-25, loser of 10 straight, and were without leading scorer RJ Barrett, who was ruled out for Tuesday’s game with an illness. Gradey Dick, Toronto’s third-leading scorer, also was unavailable (hamstring).

Despite their obvious talent advantage, the Celtics needed an overtime buzzer-beater by Jayson Tatum to beat the Raptors in the teams’ first meeting this season, pulling out a 126-123 home victory on Nov. 16.