It was rarely pretty and never easy but all that matters is that when the final buzzer sounded in the Disney World bubble tonight, the Celtics had beaten the Raptors 92-87 in Game 7. Now for the third time in four years, Boston has reached the Eastern Conference Finals as they meet Miami starting on Tuesday night in Game 1 (time TBA-either a 6:30 or 8:30 p.m. start-depending if Clippers-Nuggets needs a Game 7). Jayson Tatum (game-high 29 points, game-high 12 rebounds, game-high 7 assists) will get the headlines-and rightfully so-but the C's don't win this one without Jaylen Brown (21 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals) or Marcus Smart (16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals). For what it's worth-next to nothing-Boston was 2-1 vs. Miami way back in the pre-pandemic regular season.
As you can tell by the late 90s type NBA final score, this was a tractor pull as expected. Toronto is a good defensive team but Boston is a great defensive squad. 100 points was the magic number of the series as Toronto went 0-4 when they scored under 100 and 3-0 when they scored 100+. Smart's block of Norman Powell (11 points) in the fourth quarter with Boston up two points and 58 seconds left in regulation was unquestionably the play of the game. The Celtics had 11 more steals (12-1) and eight less turnovers (18-10) than the Raptors along with 13 more points off turnovers (31-18) and 13 more fast break points (23-10).
When Kyle Lowry (16 points, 6 rebounds)-the heartbeat of Toronto-fouled out late in the fourth quarter, you knew that the Raptors were cooked. They finally ran out of gas but major props to Fred VanVleet (team-high 20 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks) who was also really tough all series long. Pascal Siakam (13 points, 11 rebounds) had another of his customary missing person's double-doubles while Serge Ibaka (14 points, 8 rebounds off the bench) outplayed Marc Gasol one last time (or Games 1-7). This game and this series by extension should not have been nearly this tight but that's a testament to Toronto's effort and desire to show that they weren't a fluke last season (of course minus Kawhi Leonard this year).
Nobody on the Celtics needs a break more than Kemba Walker (14 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals) who has not been himself for the latter part of this series. He was a brutal 5-for-16 from the field and 1-for-7 on 3-pointers but he did make two huge free throws in crunch time and a couple key hoops along the way. Daniel Theis (5 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks) flopped in Game 7 as he fouled out in just 23 minutes of action. Both benches were short as Boston used only four guys outside of the starting lineup and Toronto had just three and yet they combined to outscore the Celtics 28-7. Yikes. Semi Ojeleye made a 3-pointer in the first half, Robert Williams (4 points, 6 rebounds) was OK in 18 minutes while Grant Williams played great defense on VanVleet forcing a terrible 3-pointer on Toronto's last meaningful possession.
The C's started out well in the first quarter but the Raptors predictably battled back to take a 27-26 lead at the end of the frame. Boston's best quarter was the second (24-19)-which wasn't saying much this evening-and that gave them a slim 50-46 advantage at the break. Would you believe that Toronto outscored Boston in the third quarter for the seventh time in a row? Oh it's true, the C's were alright but the Raptors were better (25-22) which made it 72-71 in favor of the Green heading into the fourth quarter. It was the lowest scoring 12 minutes for either club (since they were both completely exhausted) with Boston hanging on 20-16 for the five-point victory.
Even though they are the fifth seed, the Heat are no joke. They swept the Pacers in the first round and took out the top-seeded Bucks in a gentleman's sweep (5 games) in the second round. Jimmy Butler (21.8 points per game, 5.6 rebounds per game, 4.2 assists per game) is a certified badass and he's been a beast in the bubble. Miami plays a similar style to Boston with legit defense, an underrated All-Star (Bam Adebayo) and tons of great shooters (Goran Dragic, Duncan Robinson, Tyler Herro, etc.) with two former Celtics-Jae Crowder and Kelly Olynyk-in the rotation. Boston figures to be a slight favorite but it'll be another long series (think 6 or 7 games easy) against a more than worthy opponent. Gordon Hayward could be an X factor for the Celts because he's back in the bubble and reportedly close to returning to game action. Who knows what his role will be? However, Boston can always use more quality players and that's a good problem for head coach Brad Stevens to have as they sit only four wins away from the NBA Finals.
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