I like Boston. They play a similar style to Houston but instead of older vets, you have some young guns
I am jealous of the Celtics, they have a great gm who knows how to pick talent and get great trades to fill out their roaster. More importantly they don’t gamble their entire future....
LOL Totally not fair but that VanVleet play made me think of some team (Knicks? Kings? Pistons? Magic?) giving him a big free agent contract & asking/expecting him to carry the team. Ha, don't get me wrong, solid player.
Superstar play by Tatum at the end their, grabbing that free throw rebound. It's great to see a star scorer makes hustle plays like that in key moments.
While this was a dogfight and Celtics felt in control most of the game, I still cannot help but feel the Raptors shot themselves in the foot. That last play by Powell where he went 1 on 3 you see over and over again, and it rarely ends up as a smart decision. You are down 1, pull it out and get a quality shot. Now you have no rebounding and you're going up against Smart, just not smart. The second thing is for a coach who takes risks, Nurse didn't as Siakam was clearly hurting the team and given playing time over Ibaka in the 4th. The latter has produced while Siakam had shrunk hard. I don't care about egos or hurting his confidence at that moment. It's about winning. Ibaka's threes in the 1st / 2nd quarter as well as his defense was key in getting back into the game. Siakam cost them with his weird out of control low dribble at an angle where he makes himself actually very small and wide, prone to slipping and falling. Time and time again he drove and I never once felt like he was confident about what he was going to do, let alone how. It looked like he stumbled his way through this game. Credit to the Celtics for sure, but man did Raptors not show their poise down the stretch with Siakam, Powell - also that drive where Smart took the charge he could've taken the shot instead of driving in - and FVV trying to be a hero. Should've had a play to run instead of just get out of my way and I'll take care of it type of deal. It was a miracle they were in it in the first place though with Lowry and Siakam not giving them much. Bench produced for Raptors, but they had too much to overcome. I'm disappointed in the Raptors and while I get Nurse's decision, he should've went with Ibaka. Ow well, Heat probably would've beaten them too.
Yeah, I thought they should have played Ibaka rather than Siakam at the end. Siakam was very ineffective against the Celtics. Ibaka had play well and shot well. And VanVleet suddenly tried to channel his inner Harden.
