Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla freely admitted Tuesday that his team had to improve on both sides of the ball to emerge from its recent slump. Yet, he defended the team’s bouts with effort and getting defensive stops. The Celtics were shredded Sunday by the Indiana Pacers, especially on dribble penetration and paint points.

Joe Mazzulla rattled off a series of stats to support the Celtics' defense, which has faced criticism during the team's recent slump.

Jrue Holiday has missed the Boston Celtics last three games due to shoulder impingement. Boston went 1-2 during his absence and looked shaky when guarding the point-of-attack and when trying to shut down transition offense.

Jayson Tatum scored 23 points and the Celtics held the Toronto Raptors to 32 percent shooting from the field in a 125-71 win Tuesday afternoon at TD Garden. Payton Pritchard added 19 points for the Celtics, who shot 54 percent (47 of 87) from the field, including 51 percent (22 of 43) from 3-point range.

Jrue Holiday knocks town a half-time buzzer-beater as the Celtics go on to beat the Raptors 125-71.