Raptors (2-3) at Celtics (3-2) Round 2 Game 6 9/9/20

[ozgod]

JB's comments after the game:

“We had a lot of opportunities down the stretch. We didn’t take care of the ball as well as we needed to. That’s fine,” Jaylen Brown said. “We’re headed into a Game 7. We feel good about ourselves… It’s the NBA playoffs. We felt like some calls and some things got away from us, but let’s come out, let’s be ready to play. It don’t get too much better than this.”

“Obviously, we wanted to get the win tonight. But we circle back, we look at the film, we come back with a great spirit and get ready for Game 7.”

“You’ve got to embrace it. You’ve got to embrace the challenge. This is what adversity is about. This is what basketball is about. This is what life is about,” Brown said. “You get put in tough situations, you can’t complain. Some days don’t go your way, but you stand up and you fight the next day, you fight tomorrow. So I’m looking forward to getting back with our guys, circling back. I’m looking forward to shootaround and film and everything, because it’s all a part of embracing the challenge, and that’s what we’ve got to do, is embrace it so we can get ready to come back and give everything for Game 7.”

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2020/09/confident-boston-celtics-ready-for-game-7-battle-youve-got-to-embrace-it-john-karalis.html

[BringToughnessBack]

JB's comments after the game:

“We had a lot of opportunities down the stretch. We didn’t take care of the ball as well as we needed to. That’s fine,” Jaylen Brown said. “We’re headed into a Game 7. We feel good about ourselves… It’s the NBA playoffs. We felt like some calls and some things got away from us, but let’s come out, let’s be ready to play. It don’t get too much better than this.”

“Obviously, we wanted to get the win tonight. But we circle back, we look at the film, we come back with a great spirit and get ready for Game 7.”

“You’ve got to embrace it. You’ve got to embrace the challenge. This is what adversity is about. This is what basketball is about. This is what life is about,” Brown said. “You get put in tough situations, you can’t complain. Some days don’t go your way, but you stand up and you fight the next day, you fight tomorrow. So I’m looking forward to getting back with our guys, circling back. I’m looking forward to shootaround and film and everything, because it’s all a part of embracing the challenge, and that’s what we’ve got to do, is embrace it so we can get ready to come back and give everything for Game 7.”

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2020/09/confident-boston-celtics-ready-for-game-7-battle-youve-got-to-embrace-it-john-karalis.html

Sounds like a leader to me....Boy, last night was a rough one! Is it Friday yet?

[Phantom255x]

At least this isn't like 2017-2018 where the C's lost to the Wizards on a near buzzer beater by Wall in Game 6 which was a Friday night, and then they had to wait all the way until Monday night for Game 7. That was a pretty nerve wracking weekend, and 72+ hours between games lol.

[nyceltsfan]

Some major questions/gripes with this game:

1. Should the Celts be considering a box and one like the Raptors did to keep Lowry from beating them?  Kemba had a bad game - can we do the same to Lowry?  At a minimum, can we please make sure that Smart is on the court guarding Lowry every single possession?  Why is Kemba on Lowry?

2. What is Stevens saving his challenges for? 
a. In the first quarter, there was a play that sent Siakam to the line and if overturned (since he pushed with his off hand, as he does every time he drives) Siakam would have picked up his third foul. 
b. Obviously, the non-call on the Tatum drive and then calling the ticky tack foul on the other end was another one. 
c. VanVleet kicking his legs out and getting a FLAGRANT foul called on Smart??? (I know that was reviewed - I'm just venting and don't get the call). 
d. How about Lowry standing under Jaylen Brown as he was landing? 
e. Kemba being hit at the end of regulation. 
f. Theis hit on the dunk. 
g. Nick Nurse pretending to be a Celtic standing on the court.
h. Gasol running over Smart on the last in bounds play.
The list is endless.

3. How do we free up Kemba?  He needs to go out and win the next one for us.
4. Is Kanter that useless that he got no minutes last night?  When the Raptors went small (and we could not get a stop anyway), would it have made sense to use Kanter to make sure we score on the other end every time down the court by utilizing his offensive rebounding skills?
5. Why did the team go away from the Theis lobs after they worked at least 3 times?  Toronto was going small - we should have feasted on that.
6. I like how the Celtics are sharing the ball, but there is such a thing as overpassing.  I can't remember how many plays last night that they passed up a layup for a contested 3 or a second drive to the hoop.

All in all, this team has given me no confidence that they can pull out a tough game to move on to the finals.  If the Celtics don't blow out Toronto on Friday, I believe the season is over.

[apc]

https://twitter.com/celtics_col/status/1303881504980897794?s=21

How is this not a foul??

[Redz]

https://twitter.com/celtics_col/status/1303881504980897794?s=21

How is this not a foul??

I don't know, but Toronto's foul on the lob at the end of regulation should have been a shooting foul too.  There were bad calls both ways.  Maybe not in balance through our view, but still, if they call that a shooting foul on the lob it's likely ballgame right there.

[Redz]

Some major questions/gripes with this game:

1. Should the Celts be considering a box and one like the Raptors did to keep Lowry from beating them?  Kemba had a bad game - can we do the same to Lowry?  At a minimum, can we please make sure that Smart is on the court guarding Lowry every single possession?  Why is Kemba on Lowry?

2. What is Stevens saving his challenges for? 
a. In the first quarter, there was a play that sent Siakam to the line and if overturned (since he pushed with his off hand, as he does every time he drives) Siakam would have picked up his third foul. 
b. Obviously, the non-call on the Tatum drive and then calling the ticky tack foul on the other end was another one. 
c. VanVleet kicking his legs out and getting a FLAGRANT foul called on Smart??? (I know that was reviewed - I'm just venting and don't get the call). 
d. How about Lowry standing under Jaylen Brown as he was landing? 
e. Kemba being hit at the end of regulation. 
f. Theis hit on the dunk. 
g. Nick Nurse pretending to be a Celtic standing on the court.
h. Gasol running over Smart on the last in bounds play.
The list is endless.

3. How do we free up Kemba?  He needs to go out and win the next one for us.
4. Is Kanter that useless that he got no minutes last night?  When the Raptors went small (and we could not get a stop anyway), would it have made sense to use Kanter to make sure we score on the other end every time down the court by utilizing his offensive rebounding skills?
5. Why did the team go away from the Theis lobs after they worked at least 3 times?  Toronto was going small - we should have feasted on that.
6. I like how the Celtics are sharing the ball, but there is such a thing as overpassing.  I can't remember how many plays last night that they passed up a layup for a contested 3 or a second drive to the hoop.

All in all, this team has given me no confidence that they can pull out a tough game to move on to the finals.  If the Celtics don't blow out Toronto on Friday, I believe the season is over.

Smart passing out an open layup for a kick out to the corner was a bit of a head scratcher.

We can blame it on a lot of things, but I'm mostly disappointed with the amount of careless turnovers in key situations.  When the Celts went up 4 in double OT they had the Raptors scrambling for a couple of minutes.  They had the ball up 4 and had a really crappy possession that led to a quick transition hoop for the Raptors.  Then all of the sudden Toronto could not miss a [dang] shot. 

Both teams showed a ton of resiliency though. Raptors just kept coming after it.  All in all a very exciting, competitive playoff game.  Sucks to lose those.

On to Game 7.  I think we win pretty handily in Game 7.

[johnnygreen]

https://twitter.com/celtics_col/status/1303881504980897794?s=21

How is this not a foul??

I don't know, but Toronto's foul on the lob at the end of regulation should have been a shooting foul too.  There were bad calls both ways.  Maybe not in balance through our view, but still, if they call that a shooting foul on the lob it's likely ballgame right there.

I don't think there should have been a foul at all on that lob. Both players have a right to that ball.

[RMO]

Some major questions/gripes with this game:

1. Should the Celts be considering a box and one like the Raptors did to keep Lowry from beating them?  Kemba had a bad game - can we do the same to Lowry?  At a minimum, can we please make sure that Smart is on the court guarding Lowry every single possession?  Why is Kemba on Lowry?

2. What is Stevens saving his challenges for? 
a. In the first quarter, there was a play that sent Siakam to the line and if overturned (since he pushed with his off hand, as he does every time he drives) Siakam would have picked up his third foul. 
b. Obviously, the non-call on the Tatum drive and then calling the ticky tack foul on the other end was another one. 
c. VanVleet kicking his legs out and getting a FLAGRANT foul called on Smart??? (I know that was reviewed - I'm just venting and don't get the call). 
d. How about Lowry standing under Jaylen Brown as he was landing? 
e. Kemba being hit at the end of regulation. 
f. Theis hit on the dunk. 
g. Nick Nurse pretending to be a Celtic standing on the court.
h. Gasol running over Smart on the last in bounds play.
The list is endless.

3. How do we free up Kemba?  He needs to go out and win the next one for us.
4. Is Kanter that useless that he got no minutes last night?  When the Raptors went small (and we could not get a stop anyway), would it have made sense to use Kanter to make sure we score on the other end every time down the court by utilizing his offensive rebounding skills?
5. Why did the team go away from the Theis lobs after they worked at least 3 times?  Toronto was going small - we should have feasted on that.
6. I like how the Celtics are sharing the ball, but there is such a thing as overpassing.  I can't remember how many plays last night that they passed up a layup for a contested 3 or a second drive to the hoop.

All in all, this team has given me no confidence that they can pull out a tough game to move on to the finals.  If the Celtics don't blow out Toronto on Friday, I believe the season is over.

Smart passing out an open layup for a kick out to the corner was a bit of a head scratcher.

We can blame it on a lot of things, but I'm mostly disappointed with the amount of careless turnovers in key situations.  When the Celts went up 4 in double OT they had the Raptors scrambling for a couple of minutes.  They had the ball up 4 and had a really crappy possession that led to a quick transition hoop for the Raptors.  Then all of the sudden Toronto could not miss a [dang] shot. 

Both teams showed a ton of resiliency though. Raptors just kept coming after it.  All in all a very exciting, competitive playoff game.  Sucks to lose those.

On to Game 7.  I think we win pretty handily in Game 7.

I really hate the passing out for a three when you have numbers on the break.  If it's Ray Allen fine but I would rather have the high percentage two.

I think offensive rebounding is another one to mention.  Celtics seemed to give up a lot of those.

[keevsnick]

At some point the Celtics three best players have to start hitting threes.

Tatum is at 34.8% for the series not bad but well below his 40% level.
Kemba is at 29.5% for the series.
Brown is at 27.1% for the series.

[Redz]

https://twitter.com/celtics_col/status/1303881504980897794?s=21

How is this not a foul??

I don't know, but Toronto's foul on the lob at the end of regulation should have been a shooting foul too.  There were bad calls both ways.  Maybe not in balance through our view, but still, if they call that a shooting foul on the lob it's likely ballgame right there.

I don't think there should have been a foul at all on that lob. Both players have a right to that ball.

OK.  But they did rule it a foul and he was clearly attempting to dunk the ball.  If it was called a foul, it should have been a shooting foul.

Refs make different calls based on the game situation and that's a little maddening.  What's even more maddening is that they don't do that consistently either.

[keevsnick]

https://twitter.com/celtics_col/status/1303881504980897794?s=21

How is this not a foul??

I don't know, but Toronto's foul on the lob at the end of regulation should have been a shooting foul too.  There were bad calls both ways.  Maybe not in balance through our view, but still, if they call that a shooting foul on the lob it's likely ballgame right there.

I don't think there should have been a foul at all on that lob. Both players have a right to that ball.

OK.  But they did rule it a foul and he was clearly attempting to dunk the ball.  If it was called a foul, it should have been a shooting foul.

Refs make different calls based on the game situation and that's a little maddening.  What's even more maddening is that they don't do that consistently either.

the foul occurred before he ever had clear possession of the ball, by definition it cant be a shooting foul.

[libermaniac]

I know losing in double OT sucks, but are we really comparing guys on our championship team of 08 who had years of experience and were at the peak of their careers with our current team,? Like Pierce, KG and Allen, these guys are HoFers while Tatum and Brown have 7 years in the league between them.

My point was that series is not always smooth sailing. Even our 2008 Championship played like crap to lose 3 games to a mediocre at best Hawks team.  So, criticizing this team for falling to a team with the third best record in the association is a little harsh.  Do not lose faith!

[GreenEnvy]

https://twitter.com/celtics_col/status/1303881504980897794?s=21

How is this not a foul??

I don't know, but Toronto's foul on the lob at the end of regulation should have been a shooting foul too.  There were bad calls both ways.  Maybe not in balance through our view, but still, if they call that a shooting foul on the lob it's likely ballgame right there.

Tatum on Anunoby? How could that be a shooting foul when the contact occurred before he received the ball? If anything, no time should have came off the clock. Bad refereeing as usual though.

How they swallowed their whistle on the Kemba play is beyond me. It wasn’t a ticky-tack foul. He got whacked right across the arm. And right in front of the baseline ref? Yuck.

[johnnygreen]

This offseason, the league needs to review the flagrant one rule for excessive contact, if said contact was inadvertent. For instance:

Theis elbow on Lowry in game 1 (I believe), where Theis was moving from side to side, while his arms were in a defensive position. The contact was purely accidental, but a flagrant one was called on Theis and resulted in a free throw.

Last night, Tatum drove into the lane, and the natural motion of his arm accidentally hit a Toronto defender.

I know there's one or two more, because Toronto is constantly complaining to the refs. I know the Celtics complain too, but Toronto seems to take it to another level.