The Celtics did not play well for much of Game 2 against the Raptors tonight in the Eastern Conference semifinals but led by Jayson Tatum (playoff career-high 34 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists), Marcus Smart (19 points including five 3-pointers in the 4th quarter) and Kemba Walker (17 points, 6 rebounds), they still managed to find a way to come out on top. Boston's 102-99 victory gives them a 2-0 lead in the series and in NBA history, teams that are up 2-0 in best-of-7 playoff series have gone on to win that series 93% of the time.
As expected, the Raptors were better than their no-show on Sunday in Game 1 but it still wasn't enough. OG Anunoby is a nice defender and role player but when he leads Toronto in scoring (like he did tonight with 20 points), that is great news for the C's. Fred VanVleet added 19 points and seven assists but he is still ice-cold on 3-pointers (3-for-12 this evening including his miss at the buzzer that would have sent it to overtime). Pascal Siakam (17 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals) is an All-Star for a reason but so far against Boston, he hasn't been much of a factor for the defending NBA champions. Kyle Lowry (16 points, 7 assists, 4 steals) also couldn't buy a 3-pointer (0-for-7 in Game 2). For the second straight game, Serge Ibaka (17 points, 9 rebounds) was one of the few bright spots for Toronto yet he once again didn't start but I guess that doesn't really matter since he logged six more minutes than the washed up Marc Gasol (6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks).
Toronto's head coach Nick Nurse is starting to feel the pressure as he constantly worked the crooked refs and after another loss, he bitched to the media about all of Tatum's free throws (he went 14-of-14 from the line). You can sense the desperation, after all he's not stupid: he realizes that his team while very solid is still flawed with no real go-to scorer in crunch time. He also understands that Game 2 was a vital opportunity to tie the series. Instead, now they will be playing for their bubble lives on Thursday night (6:30, ESPN) since no team in the NBA has ever rallied from a 0-3 deficit in a playoff series.
The Celts have Tatum which is their biggest advantage but they also possess a bunch of other guys that can go off at different times. Jaylen Brown (16 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks) has been relatively quiet so far in this series so he's due for a breakout performance at some point. Daniel Theis only scored three points but he still made his presence felt with nine rebounds and three blocks. Likewise, Robert Williams (11 points) continues to be an immediate spark off the bench for Boston.
It was tied at 28 after the first quarter and the Celts had a slim two-point lead (50-48) at halftime. Toronto had their first really good quarter of the series in the third-outscoring the Celtics 30-20-but their double-digit advantage late in the frame wasn't enough to propel them to a win in the fourth quarter.
Besides shooting better than Toronto both from the floor (they made 4 more 3-pointers than them) and hitting more free throws (23-16), the C's corralled three more rebounds (44-41) and blocked two more shots (9-7). Other than hoping and praying that VanVleet and Lowry heat up or that Siakam takes over, I'm not sure what Nurse's strategy will be to try and turn this series around in a hurry. Boston is a step above them in class and I believe that will continue to be proven for however long this lasts.
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