The Toronto Raptors stay alive. Thanks to an incredible buzzerbeater from OG Anunoby, the reigning champion won the third game of the first round series against the Boston Celtics with 104: 103 (BOXSCORE).
With 0.5 seconds on the clock, the game seemed already decided and Boston had one leg in the Conference Finals, but instead Kyle Lowry served the British-born for a last-second emergency throw. Anunoby hit the threesome and finished the game with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The top scorer at the Raptors was Lowry with 31 points (and 8 assists), Fred VanVleet came on 25, Pascal Siakam experienced a rather weak game with 16 (6/15).
In the Celtics, Kemba Walker was by far the best player (29 points), Jayson Tatum (15, 5/18 FG) could only partially build on his previous strong performances. Jaylen Brown still had a good 19 points and 12 rebounds, Daniel Theis recorded 9 points and 7 rebounds – and without the Anunoby throw would have scored the game winner by dunk.
The Celtics dominate half time one
Both teams started nominally unchanged, but the Raptors got to see a more aggressive Lowry in the first minutes, who scored 8 of their first 10 points and thus enabled Toronto to start 10-3. The Celtics didn’t let themselves be asked for long and were also in the game a few minutes later, Walker in particular was in a good mood right from the first round.
It was also the point guard who accepted an offensive foul from VanVleet six seconds before the quarter break – only to sink a threesome with the siren on the other side. It was already his points 15 to 17 – 33:28 for Boston.
Siakam conceded his third foul early in the second quarter, and a nurse challenge was also unsuccessful. The game was getting rough. Again, the Celtics came out of the swamp faster and briefly moved away to 10. Two VanVleet threesomes brought Toronto back on, but Walker hit again just before the siren. 57:47 Boston.
Anunoby rettet die Raptors
The Raptors opened the second half with a zone defense that the Celtics couldn’t crack at first. A Lowry three-point shortened the gap to 1 point, then Siakam finally scored for 3 and Toronto led 68:66. Stevens tried Enes Kanter, whose defensive weakness was immediately exploited by Toronto. Instead, Williams came back – and stuffed over Siakam, who also conceded a Flagrant 1 foul. 80:76 for Boston before the final quarter.
The last round started with two VanVleet three-pointers, Walker stopped the run again – first with another assumed offensive foul, then with an And-1. The Raptors still stayed just ahead until Tatum layup again at 4:30 on the clock. The forward Theis then took the lead with a wonderful pass for the slam, Brown completed an 8-0 run with a power dunk.
Lowry kept the Raptors in play with lay-ups, and VanVleet equalized again with 21.5 seconds to go. Walker almost dribbled the clock in the last play – and then found Theis with a no-look pass. He pushed the ball through the trap 0.5 seconds before the end. However, the Raptors received another throw-in, which Lowry brought to the man via the outstretched arms of Tacko Fall, and Anunoby got rid of the ball just in time. Game Over!
Game 4 of the series takes place on Sunday night (0.30 a.m.).
Boston Celtics vs. Toronto Raptors: The Voices for the Game
Jaylen Brown (Celtics): “That was a bloody shame. It was terrible. I take responsibility. We shouldn’t have lost this game.”
Kyle Lowry (Raptors): “I played the pass, but give the praise to OG. He hit the shot, it’s his moment. He deserves every little bit of love he gets today.”
The most important statistics
Boston Celtics (3) vs. Toronto Raptors (2) 103:104 (BOXSCORE), Serie: 1-2
- The Raptors have had problems with throwing from distance throughout the series and this was also evident in this game. First of all, the whole team looked for the litter, and Toronto got quite a few open litters again. At the break, the Raptors had a bad 5/22 three-pointers, so it was still very difficult to get points in the half field. In the second half, VanVleet in particular was able to correct a few things, in the end it was 13/20 threesomes (Boston: 9/29). Of course, the Anunoby litter turned almost everything upside down.
- If the Raptors could cause damage beforehand, it was in the zone: Lowry, for example, scored all of his six field goals right on the basket in the first half, a total of 48 zone points. Most of them were hard worked, but the point guard managed, as so often well, to bring his body between the ball and the opponent. Boston still recorded x blocks.
- The Raptors had clear advantages in this game in the Fastbreak: 14 transition points from the Canadians were compared to only 2 from Boston. The points after losing the ball were distributed fairly (17:16).
- Ibaka recorded 2 blocks in the game, now he stands at 283 and has passed Kevin McHale on the list of playoff blocks. However, the offensive impact of the Spaniard was limited, as was that of Norman Powell. Toronto only got a measly 10 points from the bench, this duel went to the Celtics somewhat surprisingly with 20:10.
The star of the game: Kyle Lowry
The point guard just didn’t want his team to lose. While almost all the Raptors around him initially had problems, Lowry set the tone from the start and then took over the offense in the final phase. Irresistible how he kept coming to the basket and locked against contact. His passport to Anunoby was a little masterpiece.
The flop of the game: Jayson Tatum
The All-Star didn’t play a really bad game and played some very good passes, but his own scoring didn’t work in this game. Anunoby knew how to force Tatum to do inefficient finals from the middle distance, so he only got out of the field on 5/18 and only drew six free throws. Otherwise Siakam would have stood here again if the Raptors were defeated.
The scene of the game
In the end there were enough candidates, but of course the only choice here is the Anunoby litter. During the action, memories of the 0.4 Miracle by Derek Fisher were awakened – Anunoby then casually commented: “That was cool.” That was true.
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