Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse criticised the officiating in their Game 2 loss to the Boston Celtics, saying the referees "took very good care" of Jayson Tatum.

The Celtics moved 2-0 up in the Eastern Conference semi-final series with a 102-99 victory over reigning champions the Raptors on Tuesday.

Tatum scored 34 points and Marcus Smart hit five three-pointers in the space of just over three minutes in the fourth quarter to propel Boston to success.

Tatum hit all 14 of his free throws – two shy of the makes from the line by Toronto as a whole and just five fewer than the amount they were awarded.

In his post-game news conference, Nurse said: "The only frustrating part about it is this. He shoots 14 free throws, which is as much as our whole team shoots. That's the frustrating part.

"I think our guys were working hard on him and we were doing a pretty good job. He did make some good shots, they were obviously getting him the ball a lot, getting him some space.

"We could have helped a little bit better here and there. But they took very good care of him tonight."

Pascal Siakam had a layup blocked by Smart with 35.8 seconds remaining and then turned the ball over by stepping out of bounds, but Nurse felt the whistle should have been blown beforehand.

Asked about those incidents, he said: "I just see them as unfortunate, to be honest with you. I think Smart fouled the s*** out of him, so there's one for you.

"Then we ran a good play there, it looked like it was open for the corner three. It's not one we use a lot but you're saving it for that kinda situation, it's just unfortunate.

"The court has a different feel to it, there have been a lot of guys stepping on the sideline in the bubble. That's probably just unfortunate."