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

[tarheelsxxiii]

It won't be easy to beat these guys in a game 7. They've got a lot of guys you'd want to go to war with - and they won't beat themselves.

If you want to win an NBA title you have to earn it. These are the defending champs, not a group of scrubs.

Yep. If we lose Game 7 to these Toronto Raptors then that means we don't deserve it just yet. I'm not going to ask for a win on Friday, I would want us to survive, because this team is going to quite possibly the biggest battle of their season.

Yeah, I just remind myself, Tatum is 22, Brown is 23, and Smart is 26. The fact that they've been competing at this level in the playoffs basically every season since they entered the league is rare. They are developing each year and still have a few more steps to take.

Plenty of reason for optimism.  But under the current circumstances -- e.g. neutral court, fewer viewers, better depth perception -- this is a good opportunity for a young but talented team to make a very deep run. 

[libermaniac]

The 2008 championship team was taken to 7 games in both of their first two series. The first one against the 42-40 Hawks. This team has heart. They can get it done in game 7. Go Cs! Cs the moment!

[hpantazo]

Lost in all the awful officiating and missed opportunities is the great series of plays Stevens called at the end of the second OT that almost got us to tie the game. The alley-oop to Brown out of a time out, the open look for Tatum's three, and then the full court inbounds pass from our own baseline with no time-out to Smart for a good look at a potential game tying 3, who also had the option to hit a trailing Kemba for an open 3. All of those were set plays and were excellent. Vintage Stevens.

[SparzWizard]

The 2008 championship team was taken to 7 games in both of their first two series. The first one against the 42-40 Hawks. This team has heart. They can get it done in game 7. Go Cs! Cs the moment!

Yeah when they had Kevin Garnett lol. I wish this team had KG.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Hearing the postgame comments from our guys, I pity the Raptors in game 7. Celtics clearly are eager to get back at them after tonight. The Raptors talking trash got under their skin in a good way.

Cs sounded similar after Game 3 but still didn't play well in Game 4. These guys are all talk until they show me otherwise.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

The 2008 championship team was taken to 7 games in both of their first two series. The first one against the 42-40 Hawks. This team has heart. They can get it done in game 7. Go Cs! Cs the moment!

Yeah when they had Kevin Garnett lol. I wish this team had KG.

And Pierce and Allen. This team has "stars" who take every other game off (this series, at least).

[hpantazo]

The 2008 championship team was taken to 7 games in both of their first two series. The first one against the 42-40 Hawks. This team has heart. They can get it done in game 7. Go Cs! Cs the moment!

Yeah when they had Kevin Garnett lol. I wish this team had KG.

And Pierce and Allen. This team has "stars" who take every other game off (this series, at least).

KG, Pierce and Allen had some rough nights in the playoffs too. Almost lost to the Hawks who had no business hanging with the Celtics that year. Ray disappeared, sometimes for entire series, Pierce had his clunkers, and KG too.

[blink]

It won't be easy to beat these guys in a game 7. They've got a lot of guys you'd want to go to war with - and they won't beat themselves.

If you want to win an NBA title you have to earn it. These are the defending champs, not a group of scrubs.

Yep. If we lose Game 7 to these Toronto Raptors then that means we don't deserve it just yet. I'm not going to ask for a win on Friday, I would want us to survive, because this team is going to quite possibly the biggest battle of their season.

Yeah, I just remind myself, Tatum is 22, Brown is 23, and Smart is 26. The fact that they've been competing at this level in the playoffs basically every season since they entered the league is rare. They are developing each year and still have a few more steps to take.

Yeah this is a great point.  Our guys are trying to get over the hump in a tough playoff series against guys that won a ring last year.  Yeah KL isn't there anymore, but Lowry, OG, Siakam, FVV, Powell are tough players.  They aren't going to just lay down because Tatum and Brown are up and coming great players.  Gotta earn what you get in the playoffs.  They have a chance on Friday.

[GreenCoffeeBean]

Toronto’s game plan was basically “let Boston take a bunch of 3s. If they hit 50%, it wasn’t meant to be.”

[liam]

"Whether Nurse's presence fooled Tatum into making that pass or not, it's clear that he shouldn't be standing there during play, and it will be interesting to see if the league makes any comment. "

Crickets

[ozgod]

Fittingly it comes down to a Game 7. I can't be too upset tonight, double OT, we had our chances to win. (Plus I wasn't able to watch the game live, always calmer watching when you already know the result.) Let's see if they have the cojones to bounce back again. 

[Androslav]

Watched the game till 4:00, we lost and I was pretty p---ed off about officiating and result.
Woke up after 3h to go to work, still hot.
After 2 h I was able to take a shower at work to calm myself down.
Thank god, it did calm me a lot.
But I'm still pretty much p---ed off about this game.

I hope we mercilessly destroy them in G7.

[ozgod]

I still think we're the better team, but Toronto are champions for a reason. They have heart and guts and they don't lie down. This will be a good test for our guys, these are the type of experiences we need to go through to have that same championship mettle as Toronto does. Let's see who the warriors are on our team.

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. I'm excited about where we are and the opportunity they have. Sure, it sucks to lose a double OT and it would be great if every game we played was like a Game 1 or a Game 5 but the other team has some championship credentials too. They won't let go of the trophy easily, we have to pry it from their cold dead fingers.

At the start of the season if anyone had said we would be in with a shot of going to the ECF in a winner take all game 7 against the world champions would any of us have said, "no thanks I'd rather not have that opportunity". This is a golden opportunity for the team to really show what they are made of. I'm excited for Friday 

[RodyTur10]

Let's face it...we should be up 5 games to 1 right now.

Indeed. We have scored 32 points more than the Raptors, thus on average we beat them with 5 points per game.
And the eyetest confirms that the Celtics are the better team. More talent and better defense.

We can spin it like it's a great opportunity to get to the conference finals, but we should already have been there.

Nonetheless, don't think (based on the moves the Celtics have (not) made) this year was supposed to be a peak year anyway. This playoff-run is mainly another experience to get in the bag for Tatum, Brown and co for their future ventures.

[Phantom255x]

The annoying thing is, when we play fantastic for a full 48 minutes and win we usually win with blowouts or at least by a decent margin. But when Toronto plays fantastic, they still only barely win, but of course it counts as a win. Refs sucked but to be honest the game was winnable and we completely choked it.