The Boston Celtics escaped with a 128-124 win over the Portland Trailblazers at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Arena on Sunday. While the match extremely entertaining from the opening tip, it sure had some fair share of drama in the end game.

With Boston up by three points with 20 seconds left in regulation, the C's turned the ball over after Gordon Hayward was called for a backcourt violation after receiving a pass from Jayson Tatum.

Tatum was trapped by Portland defenders CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard and had to give the rock up to a trailing Hayward. While Tatum was indeed still in the backcourt at the time of the pass, it looked like Hayward caught the ball as he crossed frontcourt.

Here's the crucial play in question:

https://twitter.com/SavageBoston/status/1290058265066233856

The entire Celtics team was understandably irritated by the call, as it caused them the possession at the critical juncture of the game.

The controversial call was a hot topic post-game and referee Marc Davis addressed the late-game kerfuffle. The NBA official made it clear that the Celtics committed a violation and that they made the correct call. Here's Davis' explanation, via Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix.

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Controversy aside, the Celtics were extremely lucky that they still managed to get the four-point victory. Had the tides been turned, it's likely that the Boston brass would have filed a protest towards that call.

While it definitely looked like Hayward made it across the line before the catch, it's hard to contest with the officials' keen eye on this one.

Boston (44-22), meanwhile, bounced back nicely from their bubble opener loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Tatum shrugged off his horrible shooting last game and poured in a game-high 34 points to go along with four boards and eight dimes. Hayward pitched in 22 markers, while Jaylen Brown came up clutch with 30 points.