“It was intentional. Did you see it? Yeah, that’s not a basketball play by any means. Guys who aren’t factors in games do that. It is what it is. You can’t do nothing in this league anymore,” Thomas said. “It’s not like back in the day where you can put your hands up and fight a guy. You can’t do that. But that was not a basketball play whatsoever and that’s not cool that he did that. So that’s what happened after.”

TORONTO — After the Celtics’ loss to the Raptors Friday, Isaiah Thomas called DeMarre Carroll’s flagrant foul against him “intentional.”


Late in the second quarter with the Celtics leading, 48-37, Thomas broke free on a fast break and was shoved to the ground by Carroll before he could reach the basket. Thomas immediately sprang to his feet, rushed toward Carroll, and pointed at him. Celtics foward Jae Crowder came to Thomas’s aid as well.

defpensports: Isaiah Thomas vs Carroll ESPN NBA Basketball: Mavericks at Timberwolves https://t.co/iQhi86qZNR pic.twitter.com/I1nFmh5gKo — FanSportsClips (@FanSportsClips) February 25, 2017

After a lengthy review, Carroll received a flagrant-1 foul and a technical foul, and Crowder and Thomas both were called for technicals. After the free throws, Jaylen Brown scored on a smooth pull-up inside and then hit a 3, giving Boston its largest lead, 55-38.

Then with 1:19 left, Thomas received a flagrant-1 foul after shoving Toronto guard DeMar DeRozan. He hit both free throws and then P.J. Tucker hit a 3, helping Toronto close the half with a 7-0 burst to slice the deficit to 55-45. That sequence may have energized the Raptors, who continued their run in the third period.

“Yeah they turned it up,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “I thought they just from maybe from that point on or maybe just toward the end of the half, they went to a different level and we didn’t match it.”


While Boston still sits in second place in the East, its lead over fourth-place Toronto has been cut to three games. The Celtics also lost the season series to the Raptors, 3-1.

The Celtics visit the Pistons Sunday before returning to TD Garden to face the Hawks Monday.

Rachel G. Bowers of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Follow Adam Himmelsbach on Twitter @adamhimmelsbach.