In the Eastern Conference semifinals, two division rivals, the Toronto Raptors and the Boston Celtics, will meet (NBA playoffs live on DAZN: Click here for the free month). Both teams have a lot in common: It’s a duel at eye level, which has the potential for a terrific series.
Game 1 of the series takes place on Sunday evening at 7 p.m.
Toronto Raptors vs. Boston Celtics: Die Ausgangslage
The parameters for both teams are quite similar. Both Boston and Toronto showed no nakedness in their first round duels and sweeped the Sixers and the Nets, respectively. At the same time, both teams had to accept the injury of a key player. In the case of the Celtics, Gordon Hayward even left the bubble with his ankle injury and will not be available in this series.
The Raptors have a little more luck with Kyle Lowry’s ankle injury, and the point guard may even be available again for the start of the series. With the three days of boycott of the NBA players, the Raptors also gained a little time.
Lowry was injured in Game 4 against the Nets, but even without the All-Star Toronto had no problems with the Nets and won all four games with an average of 18 points. Brooklyn may not have been a benchmark, but it turned out that the reigning champion wins his games primarily on defense.
No team changes defensive strategies during a game as often as that of the newly crowned Coach of the Year Nick Nurse. The offenses exploded everywhere in the bubble, only Toronto was an exception: their own defense was even better (only 102.4 permitted points for 100 possession of the ball). Of the twelve games in the bubble – eight seeding games and four playoff games – the Raptors only lost one – against the Boston Celtics (100: 122).
Boston has also been convincing after the restart, especially Kemba Walker surprised positively after the point guard had repeated problems with his knee over the past few months. The Sixers were at the same time a grateful opponent, after all they begged that Kemba beat them with jump throws from the dribble, which he did. From a distance it was only moderate (around 30 percent against the Sixers), but Walker from the country of two could not be stopped and put on almost 25 points on average over the series.
In addition to Walker, the rest of the starters against Philly also knew how to convince, especially Jayson Tatum of course, who was able to seamlessly build on his strong regular season. Due to the Hayward failure, the young wing duo of Jaylen Brown and Tatum is even more burdened, so far they have been able to compensate for his failure formidably, even if the Raptors are now a different house number.
Toronto Raptors vs. Boston Celtics: Facts and Figures
Raptors
Celtics
Bilanz Regular Season
53-19
48-24
Offensive rating (place)
110,8 (13)
112,8 (4)
Defensive rating (place)
104,7 (2)
106,5 (4)
Net-Rating (Platz)
6,1 (4)
6,3 (3)
Direct comparison
1-3
3-1
Here’s how the Raptors win the series
First of all, the Raptors need a fit Lowry, otherwise the champion could be a little lacking in depth. Boston probably has the best player of the series in Tatum, the Raptors in OG Anunoby and probably also Pascal Siakam suitable matchups for the Celtics All-Star. Anunoby in particular should be one of the five best one-on-one defenders in the league and make Tatum’s life much harder than anyone at the Sixers could.
On the offensive, it would help if Fred VanVleet can confirm his good form from the Nets series. The Guard hit 19 of his 34 attempts from a distance (56 percent) over the four games and was in a sense the first option for the Canadians. The real go-to-guy is Siakam, who has not yet been able to fully build on the ideas at the beginning of the season in the bubble.
Behind VanVleet (21.3), the Cameroonian was the busiest scorer in the Nets series with 20.8 points, but Siakam did not get to the basket at will and the throw from distance caused concerns. Boston is going to force Siakam to throw, and it would help the Raptors if their best player could actually throw in a hit every now and then. By the way: Norman Powell played against Brooklyn over 17 points at 60 percent from the field – from the Raptors point of view, he can continue that against the Celtics.
