NBA Playoffs – Celtics dominate Game 5 against Toronto Raptors: Boston advantage, but what does that mean?

The Boston Celtics got the momentum back on their side with a very strong performance in Game 5 against the Toronto Raptors (the highlights of the game in the video). One victory is still missing to reach the Conference Finals. But Toronto is already confidently looking for revenge, even if the situation is new for the champions.

The match ball is there. After the Celtics had lost their comfortable 2-0 lead in the series against the Toronto Raptors, they are now back in front. The pressure is back with the reigning master. Win or go home!

From the start of Game 5, Boston left no doubt that they had learned their lessons from the previous two games. The intensity with which they went to work was impressive. They had a clear plan and implemented it from the first second. “We were very active, you could see that from the start,” coach Brad Stevens praised his team.

After the first quarter, his team had already achieved a 14-point lead. The Celtics were so dominant that the score actually flattered the Raptors. “You dropped a few throws and we missed a few throws,” said Stevens.

No one from Toronto could have complained if the lead had already been over 20 points in the first quarter.

Boston Celtics’ plan works in Game 5

“It’s the playoffs. You have to come out and be ready to fight every night. If you don’t, you lose because of that,” said Jaylen Brown, who was top scorer with 27 points (click here for his highlights).

But fighting alone is not enough. Boston had a plan. They robbed the Raptors of their greatest strength, the Transition Game. Toronto didn’t get going at all because the Celtics always got behind the ball fast enough or put pressure directly on the player in charge.

So Toronto had to laboriously fight for every point in the half-court game, something that they don’t particularly like anyway. The defensive intensity of the Celtics did the rest. The frustration sat deep after two defeats in a row. Everyone in the starting five. Whether Brown, Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart or Daniel Theis, they acted accordingly on both ends of the court.

Daniel Theis with a large share in the Celtics victory

Theis was dated several times TNT– Experts and ex-NBA coach Stan van Gundy praised to heaven. Van Gundy praised his presence under the basket and the will to keep going on the offensive, even if the ball didn’t reach him. Theis did a lot of things that don’t necessarily appear on the statistics sheet. And the things that came up were also impressive: 15 points (5/5 FGs), 8 rebounds and 2 blocks were recorded there (his best scenes are here in the video).

But if the series has shown one thing so far, everything can turn out very differently in the next game. “That means nothing. We have to be ready again on Wednesday. The job is not over yet. There is still enough work that needs to be done,” says Brown.

Because the will to want to show everyone, now the Raptors have. “Every single game is a different game. Game 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 were now different games. These are the playoffs. You learn from them, make adjustments and grow with the situation and find a way. We are currently with them back to the wall. We now have to fight for our lives on the court, “said Raptors guard Kyle Lowry immediately after the game in the now-all-in-one mode.

Toronto Raptors: Turning Frustration into Will

It is difficult to imagine that the master could be boiled again like this. “We’re really good at hitting back. It’s weird to me that we have games like this. It really is, but it has happened in the past. And then we usually hit back in a big way,” said Raptors- Coach Nick Nurse.

He now has two days to get his team back in tune, which after the second blowout in the series let out their frustration on the court.

Serge Ibaka and Lowry fought briefly after the Guard complained to the referees. Fred VanVleet, who calmed the situation down immediately, didn’t want to hang the scene too high. “This frustration occurs again and again. You just don’t normally notice it,” said VanVleet. The small hall without fans at Disney World makes this possible.

VanVleet is probably right and you shouldn’t read too much into the scene, but unlike last year, when the Raptors were a kind of underdog on the way to the title, they are now the hunted. The pressure is completely different. And they didn’t have to play an elimination game last year.

Coach Nurse now has to bundle this frustration and reawaken the underdog feeling from the previous year. In game 6 on Thursday night (from 0.30 a.m. live on DAZN) the raptors can now prove what they are made of.

Toronto Raptors vs. Boston Celtics: the series at a glance

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