Irving (facial fracture) doubtful as Celtics face Raptors

BOSTON -- Less than two minutes into Friday night's game at TD Garden, Kyrie Irving took a shot to the mouth from teammate Aron Baynes, leaving the game with a slight facial fracture and leaving the Celtics without all three of their new Big Three.

They fell behind by 18 in the first half and again in the third quarter, but then found a way to win their 11th game in a row, pulling out a 90-87 victory of a Charlotte team clearly affected by a raucous crowd during an 11-point fourth quarter.

Tweeted Gordon Hayward, who was lost for the season in his first quarter with his new team: "Incredible effort tonight from everyone on the squad! To come back and find a way to win with all the adversity...wow 11 in a row!! #OnToTheNextOne.

The next one is Sunday, when the Celtics try to make it 12 straight wins against the Toronto Raptors for the first meeting of the year between the Eastern Conference rivals.

The question for Boston coach Brad Stevens for Sunday, just as it has been through much of the winning streak, is who he will have available for the game as the team continues its pattern of playing every other day.

Irving who was checked for a concussion, suffered only the minor facial fracture and is officially listed as doubtful for Sunday.

Al Horford and Jayson Tatum were questionable Friday night.

Horford was held out for a second straight game with a concussion and Tatum played on a right ankle that didn't even cost him a whole game. Tatum said he was fine afterward.

Horford is probable for Sunday.

The Raptors (7-4) have won two in a row and have been off since a Thursday night 122-118 home win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

DeMar DeRozan had 33 points and eight assists in the win, as coach Dwane Casey experiments with a deeper rotation.

"You have no choice," Casey said earlier this week. "We've got some guys who are playing equally; nobody's really stepped up above anybody else. There's going to come a time when we narrow it down but right now, (we've) got to see what we've got."

The teams have split the two games in Boston each of the last four years, but the Raptors were 3-1 overall against the Celtics last season.

Obviously, that was a different Boston team.

This edition is the first team in NBA history with a double-digit win streak while having more than four rookies on their roster. Boston's roster contains six first-year players and this edition is allowing 94.8 points per 100 possessions, tops not only in the league this year but all the way back to 2003-04.

The Celtics (11-2) have erased 18-point deficits twice during the winning streak.

"We're just going to do what we do no matter who we got," Boston guard Terry Rozier said after the comeback win Friday night. "No matter who we're going to play with, we're going to play hard."

Said Stevens: "I think this team has a chance to be one of those teams that just kind of fights through adversity all the way through,"

The Celtics visit Brooklyn Tuesday night before the champion Golden State Warriors visit on Thursday.

"We have a lot of fight, tenacity is high, defense is high," Boston's Marcus Morris said. "We've been doing a great job on defense and Brad Stevens -- he's a guru."