It continued into Jaylen Brown‘s postgame press conference.
In double overtime games, there are always plays that could have swung the result in the other direction. One came late in regulation, when Jayson Tatum drove and passed… directly to Toronto coach Nick Nurse, who was standing near Celtics center Daniel Theis in the corner. Nurse was hunched over and touching the out-of-bounds lines – maybe even crossing them at one point.
“That was my fault. Can’t blame Nick Nurse. He’s not playing. It was my fault,” Tatum told reporters.
Jaylen Brown, via Hartwell:
“Things like that — sometimes things seem to go overboard at times,” Brown told reporters when asked about Tatum’s turnover. “Let’s keep it in check. Let’s keep it respectable, and let’s keep playing basketball. Grown men should be able to control themselves, especially coaching staffs.”
Tatum showed a lot of maturity with that answer. It is his responsibility to avoid a turnover.
But that play shouldn’t fall on him.
The NBA should crack down on coaches and bench players crowding the court. It’s not safe. It’s not basketball.
Sign In Things between the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors have gotten contentious, to say the least. Especially after Wednesday evening’s Game 6 of their Eastern Conference semifinals series. The match went into double-overtime and ended with a verbal altercation between Celtics guard Marcus Smart and Raptors guard Fred VanVleet, that caused quite a commotion.…
Things between the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors have gotten contentious, to say the least.
Especially after Wednesday evening’s Game 6 of their Eastern Conference semifinals series. The match went into double-overtime and ended with a verbal altercation between Celtics guard Marcus Smart and Raptors guard Fred VanVleet, that caused quite a commotion.
But unlike most NBA Playoff series, where teams can go home at night and forget about what happened in the last game to clear their minds ahead of the next one, the Celtics and Raptors can’t escape each other.
“Personally speaking, from what I know, I like the guys. But right now, I hate them,” VanVleet on Thursday said during a Zoom conference from the Coronado Springs Resort at Disney World, via USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt.
And to make things more awkward, a number of Celtics players, coaches and staffers were seen walking by as VanVleet was doing his media availability.
“I don’t want to see them,” VanVleet said. “I don’t want to look at them. I don’t want to talk to them. It’s a little weird, but it’s just where we’re at.”
Fortunately after Friday, they won’t have to see each other much longer, as the result of Game 7 means someone is going home.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The game plan from Boston coach Brad Stevens was simple: Start things off with an increased effort on defense to set an immediate tone. The Celtics did exactly as he asked — and put the reigning NBA champions on the ropes. Jaylen Brown scored 27 points and the Celtics never […]
Kemba Walker said his lack of aggression was “unacceptable” after taking only nine shots in the Boston Celtics’ 100-93 loss to the Toronto Raptors in game 4. The series is now even at two. “I got to be more aggressive. I wasn’t aggressive enough. That’s unacceptable on my behalf, to be honest. There’s no way […]
Kemba Walker said his lack of aggression was “unacceptable” after taking only nine shots in the Boston Celtics’ 100-93 loss to the Toronto Raptors in game 4.
“I got to be more aggressive. I wasn’t aggressive enough. That’s unacceptable on my behalf, to be honest. There’s no way I can just be taking nine shots. That’s unacceptable,” said Walker.
Walker finished the game with 15 points and 8 assists, while also going 1-for-6 from three.
Jaylen Brown, who shot 4-of-18 from the field, echoed Walker’s struggles.
“I just missed some open shots. I’m a good shooter. I’ve just got to make them. It’s make-or-break time, 2-2. The series is tied up. We didn’t play that well. I didn’t play that well. We got to bounce back and be ready to fight. That’s what it comes down to: fight. We have to be ready to fight for our lives next game and keep playing good basketball.”
Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens has complete confidence in his team, even after their unexpected, last-second loss to the Toronto Raptors in Game 3 of their second-round series with the reigning NBA champs.
“We have a really competitive group; we have a really intrinsically motivated group,” explained the Celtics coach
“At the end of the day, in basketball, as long as there’s time on the clock anything can happen and we were on the unfortunate end of the tough loss last night.”
“So, you you lick your wounds; you’re feeling whatever emotions you’re feeling — and then you move on and you try your best. Do what you can to control what you can, to be the best you can. And for some people it’s putting a chip on that shoulder, is the way to go about it. For others, it’s just being able to focus a little bit more on the task at hand.”
“In that moment, everybody’s a little bit different in that, but at the end of the day, I love this group,” offered Stevens. “I love their competitive spirit.”
In the Indiana native’s mind, there is zero doubt the Celtics will leave the floor after Game 4 having played their best basketball.
“They’re going to bring it; they’re going to give everything they have, and if we get beat, we get beat,” said Stevens. “The last night wasn’t the way we wanted it to end, but we’re looking forward to get a chance to compete again, because we like to compete.”
Compete they shall, with tip-off scheduled for 6:30 pm Eastern Time; a win here would almost certainly sew up the series for the Celtics, with only a handful of teams ever coming back from a 3-1 postseason deficit.
We’ll try not to think about what might happen next should the Raptors tie it up instead.
Thursday night’s 104-103 Raptors’ miracle win down in the Orlando Bubble is not one I will ever forget. First, take a look at the shot that kept the World Champions alive a little bit longer. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!??!?! pic.twitter.com/9dfLglhKM5 — Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) September 4, 2020 Next, consider that while Jayson Tatum had 18-9-6 […]
Jeff Zillgitt USA TODAY Published 11:37 PM EDT Sep 3, 2020 LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The situation was bleak but not hopeless. The Toronto Raptors trailed the Boston Celtics by one point with 0.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter following Daniel Theis’ dunk. The Raptors were in a huddle during the timeout, and […]
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The situation was bleak but not hopeless. The Toronto Raptors trailed the Boston Celtics by one point with 0.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter following Daniel Theis’ dunk.
The Raptors were in a huddle during the timeout, and coach Nick Nurse designated Kyle Lowry to inbound the ball because “he has guts,” Nurse said, and designed a play with several options.
“Freddie (VanVleet) comes wheeling off there first, and Marc (Gasol) pins down for Pascal (Siakam), OG (Anunoby) clears out to the weak side, Marc tries to find an open area either at the rim or out, depending on how they played it,” Nurse said.
Anunoby was the fourth of four options. When Lowry got the ball from the referee to pass it in, he surveyed the court with Boston’s 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall guarding the pass.
In the actions Toronto created with Lowry looking for an open player, the Celtics lost track of Anunoby. Jayson Tatum and Theis focused on VanVleet. After Gasol set a screen for Siakam, he also set a screen on Jaylen Brown, leaving Anunoby open on the far side of the court.
With just enough time to catch and shoot, Anunoby did exactly that and drilled a corner 3, giving the Raptors a 104-103 victory in Game 3 on Thursday.
“Give OG his flowers tonight,” Lowry said.
Anunoby barely had a reaction as his teammates mobbed him.
“I don’t shoot trying to miss,” Anunoby said.
Said VanVleet: “I know he was excited. That’s just his nature. Being in those situations, sometimes you don’t know what to do. I don’t think he’s a guy who’s going to run around the court. That was true OG form right there to knock down the biggest shot of his life and act like nothing happened. The rest of us were more excited for him than he was for himself.”
The shot saved Toronto’s season. The Raptors were on the verge of a 3-0 deficit. Now, it’s a much more manageable 2-1 deficit, and they came back from a 2-0 hole in last season’s Eastern Conference finals against Milwaukee and won the series.
“It’s OG’s moment,” Lowry said. “That’s a great moment for that kid. I’m so happy and so proud of him. The pass meant nothing. The shot was everything. … He deserves every ounce of love and celebration that he’s going to get tonight. The kid works extremely hard. That’s his moment. Let him live in it, and I’ll ruin tomorrow when he watches film and I tell him what he messed up on.”
Anunoby finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and he helped keep the Raptors close in the first half when Lowry, Siakam and VanVleet continued with their offensive struggles. He had nine points and was Toronto’s second-leading scorer behind Lowry’s 15 in the first half.
Lowry wanted to deflect credit. But his cross-court pass was magnificent in its own right.
“There’s not a lot of times that you probably want a — let’s call him 6-foot-1 — guard taking the ball out of bounds in a late-game situation because you saw they tried to put size on him,” Nurse said.
First off, Lowry had Fall waving his long arms in front of him. To create a little extra space, Lowry backed off the sideline near Boston’s bench. He watched as players set the play in action with screens and movement, and he surveyed the defense.
He noticed Anunoby slipped unguarded to the corner on the opposite side of the court — about 55 feet away. Lowry had to launch the perfect pass — over Fall but not too much air under the ball so that a defender could get to Anunoby and disrupt the play.
“It was a beautiful pass,” VanVleet said. “We don’t give Kyle as much credit as you guys give him. We expect those things from him. So it’s not that amazing from our perspective. I’ve become accustomed to seeing him do those things on a nightly basis.”
The Raptors have struggled offensively in the series and had trouble shooting through the first 2½ quarters on Thursday. But they found just enough offense from Lowry (31 points), VanVleet (17 of his 25 points in the second half) and Siakam (14 of his 16 in the second half).
Their defense remained solid, holding Boston to 46 points in the second half.
Add one great pass and one clutch shot, and the series is a lot closer than it looked after the first 47 minutes, 59.5 seconds of Game 3.
Follow Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt.Tags:Basketball
Matt Eppers USA TODAY Published 1:10 AM EDT Sep 4, 2020 With their season on the line, the Toronto Raptors drew up a play that delivered when they needed it most. OG Anunoby hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Raptors a 104-103 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of their […]
With their season on the line, the Toronto Raptors drew up a play that delivered when they needed it most. OG Anunoby hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Raptors a 104-103 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of their second-round series Thursday night.
Anunoby caught a cross-court pass with 0.5 seconds left on the clock and got his shot off over the out-stretched hand of a leaping Jaylen Brown.
Brown tipped his cap to the Raptors afterwards for the slick play design. However, he lamented the Celtics’ defensive lapse that allowed Anunoby to get free and couldn’t hide his frustration.
“It’s a (expletive) disgrace at the end of the game,” Brown said. “That was just terrible. No way we should have lost that game. I take responsibility for that. Not just that play, but a lot of the plays before. It happens. It’s the NBA playoffs. Either you let them gain momentum or you come back and get ready to play next game.”
Brown and the Celtics could have taken a commanding 3-0 series lead and effectively ended the Raptors’ title defense. Instead, Toronto is back in the series down 2-1 with Game 4 on Saturday night.
“Just a miscommunication, the coverage that we were in,” Brown said of the final play. “That’s all that really is. They made a remarkable play at the end.”
Anunoby finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for Toronto. Kyle Lowry scored 31 points, and Fred VanVleet added 25.
Brown had 19 points and 12 rebounds for Boston. Kemba Walker had 29 points, and Jayson Tatum had 15.
Or Kawhi Leonard. Or sweet-shooting guards Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet to bury some shots. And for Marcus Smart to remember that he’s a career 32% three-point shooter, and not Larry Bird.
Smart’s always been sneaky dangerous, despite his overall poor shooting numbers. Even in his third season, when he shot just 28% from deep, he nailed 42% of his corner three-point attempts and was fifth in the NBA in pull-up three-point percentage this regular season. The mechanics are there. He just needs the confidence of seeing an early one or two go down. Plus things are evening out after he missed nearly everything from deep in the first round against Philadelphia. As Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said when asked about parallels to Fred VanVleet’s playoffs last year (brutal against Philadelphia, all-world in the rally against Milwaukee and in the Finals): “I didn’t think of that but that’s a pretty good comparison,” Nurse said, calling Smart Boston’s “wild card.”
As Nurse said, Boston has a ton of firepower in Jayson Tatum (career playoff high and 14 free throw attempts), Kemba Walker (one of the NBA’s streakiest scorers, as he showed after stinking it up in the first half before erupting) and Jaylen Brown. You know you’ll get a lot from at least two of those guys each night, but if Smart is playing like Ray Allen on offence and Tony Allen on defence, well, you’re going to be in an awfully tough spot. Especially if Lowry misses all of his open shots (six, total) and VanVleet misses 5-of-14. In face, take away OG Anunoby’s strong game and the rest of the Raptors only hit 33% of their uncontested shot attempts.
There is going to be some reversion to the mean at some point when it comes to both Smart and Toronto’s guards. There just has to be. At some point Norman Powell probably contributes too, since he has all season.
The Raptors had 10 steals for the second game in a row and blocked seven shots, their playoff high through two rounds. The steal number (six in the first half in particular) was impressive considering 0 free throw attempts in the first half meant they rarely had time to set their defence early on.
Why individual plus/minus isn’t a great stat: The eye test said Boston’s Semi Ojeleye played awful, doing a bit of a Rodions Kurucs impression. The stats say he was a game-high plus-seven. That despite bricking his three shot attempts, all three-pointers.
We’ll end again with a shoutout to Jamal Murray (and Donovan Mitchell, who also had a spectacular series and nearly willed Utah back after an epically bad first half for the team). Murray didn’t put the Nuggets on his shoulders again for Game 7, Nikola Jokic stepped up for his fellow star, but he gutted through the pain caused by a collision with Joe Ingles and still managed to score 17 in a game that was a bit of a throwback to the mid-90s, when it comes to offensive crispness.
Murray’s numbers for the series were nothing short of ridiculous. Denver rallied from a 3-1 hole and he averaged 31.6 points, 6.3 assists, 5.6 rebounds per game and his shooting splits were .550/.533/.920. Shooting that well with a 3/1 turnover ratio is the type of next level stuff that should have Nuggets fans very happy, as well as supporters of Canadian basketball. In Murray and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Canada has a starting backcourt that can compete with any country on the planet.
Denver needs to add some great defenders who can nail open shots around Jokic and Murray, who are below average on that end and they’ll be contenders.
In that epic series, Jamal Murray was 14-20 FG (7-9 3FG) with 6 assists and 0 turnovers in clutch situations (game within 5 in final 5:00).
He scored 36 points and assisted another 15 points in 20 minutes of clutch time.
Sign In Nick Nurse might be getting desperate. The Toronto Raptors head coach strongly criticized the officials Tuesday after his team’s Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 2 loss to the Boston Celtics. In particular, Nurse was upset at a non-call on Marcus Smart late in the game as well as the overall treatment of Celtics star…
The Toronto Raptors head coach strongly criticized the officials Tuesday after his team’s Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 2 loss to the Boston Celtics. In particular, Nurse was upset at a non-call on Marcus Smart late in the game as well as the overall treatment of Celtics star Jayson Tatum.
“The only frustrating part about it is this: (Tatum) shoots 14 free throws, which is as much as our whole team shoots,” Nurse said.
” … They took very good care of him tonight.”
Take a look:
Nick Nurse was asked how frustrating it was to see Jayson Tatum take over.
“The only frustrating part about it is this: He shoots 14 free throws, which is as much as our whole team shoots. … They took very good care of him tonight.” pic.twitter.com/KvIgFS3RXc— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) September 2, 2020
Not to be overly technical, but the Raptors shot 16 free throws as a team.
At the end of the day, it’s entirely possible Tatum received the star treatment Tuesday night. However, the young forward was called for a soft technical late in the game in a decision that sure seemed like punishment for consistent complaining toward the officials. So, it’s clear the refs don’t love Tatum that much.
The Celtics hold a 2-0 lead over the Raptors in their second-round NBA Playoffs series. The two teams will meet at 6:30 p.m. ET on Thursday for Game 3.
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
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