Celtics (2-2) at Raptors (2-2) Round 2 Game 5 9/7/20

[tstorey_97]

All five starters plus Wanamaker all double digits.

A point distribution clinic!

[ozgod]

Great W!! Loved it!

I expect us to come out strong tonight. We simply have to.

We've seen Denver even the series with the Clippers. Everyone had written them off, myself included. There were people who thought they lucked out against Utah by Bogdanovic not being there, and after G1 against LA everyone thought they were done for. The machine of Kawhi, the All-Star wing play of George, the two 6MOTY candidates and the veteran coach were all stacked against them. Yet they came out firing and won the game.

We saw Milwaukee, with their backs against the wall facing one of the most embarrassing sweeps in recent history, come out and beat a tough Miami squad. They did this even with their MVP going down early, and everyone from fans at home to national TV analysts getting out their brooms. Even facing OT, Middleton and others never took a backwards step.

This is playoff basketball! Anything is possible!

Nailed it

Yep I was confident too  at our best I think we are the better team. But end of day they have to prove it on the floor by showing heart and mental toughness which they did. They got hit on the mouth and got back up. We have to respect Toronto they are the defending champs they will fight as hard as they can, but if we play to our best, play freely and unselfishly and move the ball and defend the way we can I think this team is capable of beating anyone.

So wrist slitting averted for at least another game  Amazing what a difference a day and win makes

[keevsnick]

Hayward available if we advance?!?

TNT announcer just said it. Was this revealed before the game?

I mean the timeline is 4-6 weeks, game 7 of this series would be 3 weeks 4 days since the injure, so the presumption is a hayward return would at least be possible sometime in the ECF's. Given previous timelines for a grade 3 sprain it seems dubious, but thats the timeline the cs have given so....

[tenn_smoothie]

Excellent response by the Celtics - gives me some hope about their mental toughness, which is essential in the playoffs.

[ozgod]

Hayward available if we advance?!?

TNT announcer just said it. Was this revealed before the game?

I mean the timeline is 4-6 weeks, game 7 of this series would be 3 weeks 4 days since the injure, so the presumption is a hayward return would at least be possible sometime in the ECF's.

He's in quarantine now so it's possible he would be available assuming he's fully fit in the latter half of the series. Or maybe they bottle him up and make sure he's ready for the Finals if we get that far.

[Greenality]

Great win, team effort, everybody is awesome))
Hope game 6 will go the same way (unlikely though).

[Ogaju]

What I learned tonight: If you "scold" your wife for talking to you during the Celtics game, she might not take it as the character-building exercise that you intended.

Mike

lol

lol get that man some TPs for effort notwithstanding hazard.

[ozgod]

Brad did a better job this game preparing them to come out and play. He now needs to sit them down and tell them that it was only a day ago that the sky was falling in because Toronto had made the series 2-2. Job's not done yet, they need to play like they are down 3-2 not up 3-2. Play with purpose and desperation but play freely, because that's when they are at their best. We know they have the skills, we know at their best they are better than Toronto, at their best they can defend against the Raptors...we need the best version of the Celtics on Wednesday. He needs to make sure they're in the right mental state for Wednesday so they can execute at their best so we can close the game out.

[kraidstar]

Hayward available if we advance?!?

TNT announcer just said it. Was this revealed before the game?

I mean the timeline is 4-6 weeks, game 7 of this series would be 3 weeks 4 days since the injure, so the presumption is a hayward return would at least be possible sometime in the ECF's.

He's in quarantine now so it's possible he would be available assuming he's fully fit in the latter half of the series. Or maybe they bottle him up and make sure he's ready for the Finals if we get that far.

The announcer sounded pretty confident that Hayward would appear in the next series. Seemed like he has some inside info. Hopefully he is right

[GreenFaith1819]

Can we PLEASE get Kevin Harland for Game 6???

[CaNdyMaN1369]

Need to win game 6, really don't want it to go to game 7...

[Celtics Mike]

The energy and the determination of Jaylen Brown was the difference maker tonight. Celtics are a completely different team when Jaylen Brown shows up

[SHAQATTACK]

don't let up guys !

[ozgod]

The energy and the determination of Jaylen Brown was the difference maker tonight. Celtics are a completely different team when Jaylen Brown shows up

I feel like he puts a lot of pressure on himself to be good, sometimes he gets into his head a bit. It was obvious during Game 4 that he had been dwelling on the Anunoby fail and so he kept bricking shots...but the positive was that he was getting open shots. Jaylen plays best when he plays freely and not thinking about anything but the moment, when he's "just hooping" as he said it. That's the mindset he needs to be in for the Celtics to be the best version of themselves.

[slamtheking]

saw it on tape delay.  hot takes for the game:
- awesome start!!   where the hell was this last game?
- Smart still making boneheaded turnovers this game.  been a real problem all series.
- Theis' best game this series by far

- Good thing the C's built a huge lead by the middle of the third quarter because Toronto really exposed the C's inability to handle ball pressure.  Love Kemba but he's not on the same level as Rondo or even Kyrie when it comes to being able to dribble while being pressured.  what is this thing the C's are doing where they pick up the ball or back into a corner against the half court line once they cross it?  inexplicably bad basketball
- Nick Nurse is showing he's a helluva coach - able to come up with different approaches to try to help his team win and able to find ways to exploit weaknesses by the other team. 
- another game where Lowry showed how much of dirty player he is.  would run a variety of bench players at him throughout the game and give them one clear direction - if you're going to get called for fouling Lowry - really foul him hard so that there's no guesswork and hope the beating catches up with Lowry by the end of the game.

- and final note, the key the Celtics winning is me.  finally figured it out.  thought it was because I was wearing a Celtic shirt the first 2 games but not the third but that theory was disproven in game 4 when they lost while I had my C's shirt on.  turns out the key is that I not watch the game live (which I did during game 3 and 4 losses) but watch on tape delay (which I've done for games 1, 2 and 5).  I may have to wait to celebrate closing out the series until after watching it on delay Wednesday.