TORONTO - The Celtics spent three periods rapping the Raptors from pillar to Air Canada Centre post last night.

If only it were a hockey game, they could have left happy. But the NBA rules strictly insist a fourth quarter must be played, and that is where the Bostonians met a nasty demise. The Celts squandered a 17-point lead - 12 of it in the last quarter - to suffer a 97-92 loss to Toronto.

``We came out with the fire,'' said Antoine Walker. ``We had the game under control for 3 quarters, but we kind of gave it to them. They didn't do nothing spectacular. We gave them the game. I mean, not taking nothing from them - they're a good team - but we had the game under control and we kind of gave it to them.''