Boston came out with the win on home court this week against the Toronto Raptors in an absolute thriller, but the game did not end without a little bit of controversy. The dominant Celtics came into this game with an 10-3 record and were looking to add another easy win as the 2-11 Raptors came to town.

Although things didn’t quite go to plan, as Toronto fought hard through the whole game and Boston only managed to gain a two point lead going into halftime. Despite the early pushback, Boston knew they were the better team and were determined to pull in front during the second half. But the Raptors refused to quit as their big man Jakob Potl, who’s been on a monster hot streak of late, put on yet another masterclass en route to posting a 35 point double-double along with 12 rebounds.

By midway through the third quarter, Toronto had more than doubled Boston’s total for points in the paint, a big part of this coming from Potl but also RJ Barrett who had an incredible game of his own, notching a triple-double with 25 points, 15 assists, and 10 boards. The Celtics were in desperation mode, with the game feeling like it was slipping away, they looked to their superstar Jayson Tatum to help mount the comeback.

Boston found their stroke from long range near the end of the quarter as Tatum, Pritchard, and Hauser all made big shots to close the deficit and the Celtics regained control of the game.

Both teams continued to go back and forth for the entire fourth quarter, with neither team leading by more than five points. With the game tied at 114 aside, the final possession of regulation belonged to the Celtics, and the ball naturally landed in the hands of Tatum to take the last shot. Being closely defended by Ochai Agbagi, Tatum made his move and dropped Agbagi to the floor giving him all the space in the world to get off the game-winning shot. But despite the space, Tatum was unsuccessful in sinking the free-throw line jump shot and missed by quite badly to say the least. This game would need overtime.

Just like in regulation, these two teams went to war, trading threes and buckets left and right, it felt like a coin toss on who was going to come away with the win. With just seven seconds left in overtime, the ball once again found its way to Jayson Tatum and he was looking to avenge himself for his earlier missed chance at ending the game. Once again being guarded by Agbagi, Tatum went to work and took a step back three from well beyond the arch this time with a hand well in his face. However, with a shear mix of luck and skill Tatum sank the shot and iced the game for the Celtics, putting an end to an instant classic of a match up.

Now when it comes to the controversy of this game, fans and the media wouldn’t find out until the day after, when the NBA did there 2-minute report on the game and found a shocking revelation. It appeared that Tatum had committed a travel on the play right before making his game winning three.

Raptors fans couldn’t help but sigh at the fact that they pushed the defending champs to the limit only to have the game snatched from their hands on a play that never should have happened. As for what they play does for Jayson Tatum’s reputation, fans will naturally say that Tatum isn’t clutch and somehow gets away with a travel call in the final seconds of a game, but regardless his performance that night was still wildly impressive and should not be discredited because of a referees error.

The Celtics continued their winning ways by snapping Cleveland’s undefeated streak to start the season at 15 games, and Boston’s next contest will be Friday November 22, when they head on the road to face the Wizards.