Payton Pritchard, Hugo Gonzalez lead Celtics past Raptors without Jaylen Brown

The Celtics didn’t need their No. 1 option to take down the Raptors on Saturday night.

With Jaylen Brown (illness) sitting out on the second night of a back-to-back, Boston rode a standout performance by Payton Pritchard and a banner day from its bench to a 112-96 win over Toronto at Scotiabank Arena.

Pritchard played one of his best all-around games of the season to lead the short-handed Celtics, finishing with 33 points on 13-of-24 shooting, 10 assists, eight rebounds and just one turnover in 36 minutes. Running mate Derrick White (15 points) went just 5 for 20 in the win, but key contributions from Boston’s reserves offset his struggles.

Rookie Hugo Gonzalez notched the first double-double of his young career, tallying 10 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and a block as Boston outscored Toronto by 37 points over his 27 minutes. Luka Garza, seeing his first non-garbage-time minutes in nearly a month, had 12 points and 10 rebounds, including nine offensive boards, and was a plus-22 in 26 minutes. Anfernee Simons (15 points) was a plus-32. Josh Minott and Baylor Scheierman were plus-10 and plus-9, respectively, in limited action.

The Celtics have played two games without Brown this season and won both. Now 17-11, they will play their next seven games against teams currently below .500, beginning with a home matchup against the 6-21 Indiana Pacers on Tuesday.

The Raptors, who were playing without injured starters RJ Barrett and Jakob Poeltl, fell to 17-12.

White misfired on his first four shots, but Pritchard was highly involved early, scoring or assisting on six of the Celtics’ first seven made baskets. He was the only starter to stay in the game when head coach Joe Mazzulla made his first round of substitutions — a near-full line change that featured one player who’d been glued to the bench for weeks.

Garza was the Celtics’ second-string center for the first month of the season, but the team’s late-November shift toward smaller lineups pushed him out of the rotation. He entered Saturday having logged just 10 total minutes over Boston’s last eight games, with all of those coming in blowouts. Garza hadn’t seen meaningful playing time since Nov. 29.

Mazzulla inserted Garza midway through the first quarter against Toronto, however, and the backup big man made an immediate impact. In his first five minutes of floor time, Garza scored six points and pulled down five offensive rebounds — nearly as many as Boston’s entire roster totaled in Friday’s win over Miami (six).

His hard work on the glass helped spur a Celtics rally. After the quartet of Garza, Gonzalez, Simons, Minott subbed in, Boston ripped off an 18-3 run to take a 32-20 lead.

Gonzalez’s rebounding and active defense also fueled that flurry, as did his renowned cutting ability. The high-energy rookie scored two layups directly off inbounds passes from White, who also zipped a similar feed to a cutting Minott that resulted in free throws. Gonzalez was called for three first-half fouls, however, and White struggled to find his shot, going just 2 for 13 before halftime.

The Celtics held an eight-point lead late in the second quarter, but the Raptors closed the half on a 10-0 run to jump ahead 51-49. Half of those points came on one Toronto possession. Neemias Queta was whistled for a flagrant foul when he crashed down on Scottie Barnes’ head after a made basket, giving the Raptors one shot and the ball.

Mazzulla shook up his top unit to open the third quarter, giving Minott the nod over starter Jordan Walsh. Walsh, who caught an earful from his head coach after he was beaten on a backdoor cut earlier in the game, sat the entire second half, with Mazzulla favoring Minott, Gonzalez and later Baylor Scheierman.

The story of the third quarter, though, was Pritchard, who carried the Celtics’ offense with a superb display of midrange shot-making. The 6-foot-1 guard piled up 19 points in the period on 8-of-10 shooting, including 6-for-6 in the paint.

Pritchard hasn’t matched his usual efficiency as a 3-point shooter this season, but he’s been one of the best in the NBA at converting tough jumpers in the lane. Of the 138 players who entered Saturday with at least 40 field-goal attempts in the paint but outside the restricted area, Pritchard’s 62.9% success rate on those shots ranked third in the league and first among guards.

Pritchard did work as a facilitator, as well. Boston’s final four possessions of the third quarter ended in a Pritchard fadeaway, a dish to Gonzalez for a layup, a dish to Scheierman for a layup and another Pritchard fadeaway.

The Celtics took an 83-80 lead into the fourth, at which point their bench took over. Simons opened the final quarter with back-to-back makes, followed by a slick sequence from Scheierman, who stole the ball from Immanuel Quickley and flipped a behind-the-back pass to a trailing Gonzalez for two. Garza continued his strong play on the glass, grabbing three more offensive rebounds and drawing multiple fouls.

White chipped in two 3-pointers and a nifty and-one floater to stretch Boston’s lead to double digits, and Gonzalez provided the exclamation point with a powerful two-handed slam over Sandro Mamukelashvili. The dunk made it 106-94 with 3:14 to play, and the Celtics cruised from there to move back into third place in a crowded Eastern Conference.