 | TOR Raptors | 100 | Final Box Score | 93 | BOS Celtics |  |
 B+ | P. Siakam45 MIN, 23 PTS, 11 REB, 2 AST, 0 STL, 10-23 FG, 2-13 3FG, 1-2 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 4 +/- Struggled from three and took a lot of them to start, almost exclusively. As the game went on and Brown continued struggling, Siakam began taking it inside and found some success, especially in the face-up low block. When he’s giving the Raptors iso-offense it gives everyone some relief because they can just afford to take it easy on a possession and just milk the cow. He’s on the up and up at the right time. | |
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 A | O. Anunoby35 MIN, 11 PTS, 3 REB, 3 AST, 0 STL, 3-7 FG, 2-4 3FG, 3-4 FT, 2 BLK, 3 TO, 6 +/- Picked up where he left off, really. Solid defensively, especially in deny situations where he forces his defender to catch the ball in a position further than they’d like. He is the Raptors best help defender by a long shot. Had an insane rebound and put-back too. | |
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 C | M. Gasol25 MIN, 4 PTS, 2 REB, 5 AST, 0 STL, 2-5 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-1 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 7 +/- The only positive thing I can say about him is that he uses his big body well and sets half-decent screens for the guards. Other than that he’s painful to watch. Hesitant, slow and struggling to get contested rebounds. The Raptors had some success with him rolling to the rim in Game 4 but nothing tonight. Did have a bucket late which put the Raps up 9. Fouled out and nobody cared. His job tonight more than anything was to give Ibaka some rest. | |
 A+ | K. Lowry43 MIN, 22 PTS, 11 REB, 7 AST, 2 STL, 5-16 FG, 4-10 3FG, 8-8 FT, 2 BLK, 5 TO, 10 +/- Sublime again. Don’t even look at his shooting percentages because this man is the engine that drives everything. Got us the start we needed by going into Game 6 mode, eased up in the second and stepped up in the second half through consistently great playmaking. He can get by any Boston defender no matter how big or small and now the guys he’s dishing off to are finishing. Two huge charges and drew the offensive foul against Tatum who was pushing off with his right arm all game, and finally got called for it. Legend. | |
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 B+ | F. VanVleet44 MIN, 17 PTS, 6 REB, 6 AST, 1 STL, 6-19 FG, 5-11 3FG, 0-1 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 10 +/- Backed up his words by hitting big threes in that third quarter as the Raptors were building up their lead. Defensively he gets in trouble when guys like Tatum go at him but there’s little he can do about that. When Lowry’s creating the way he was, Fred can afford to sit back and carve out his offense with less pressure to plamake. This was his type of game. Missed a lot of makeable shots, though, including two layups. | |
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 A+ | S. Ibaka22 MIN, 18 PTS, 7 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 7-9 FG, 4-4 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 1 TO, 0 +/- Monster game. Dead eye from three, challenging shots and getting in-traffic rebounds. This is about as well as he’s played in his career. Unlike Gasol, he’s forcing the Celtics to come out and cover which opens up the lanes for Lowry and Fred. Leaving all that aside though, he always plays with confidence which has to rub off on everyone on the court. | |
 B | N. Powell19 MIN, 5 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST, 1 STL, 1-6 FG, 0-0 3FG, 3-3 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 1 +/- Had a nice driving dunk on a slash. He’s good at that slash down the middle when his man looks away to the strong side. The stat line isn’t great but defensively he didn’t get exploited and held the bigger Boston wings at bay. | |
 C | M. Thomas3 MIN, 0 PTS, 1 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 0-1 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -3 +/- Took a three that almost hit the side of the backboard. The Celtics know who he is and give him zero space. Did get an offensive rebound by hustling. | |
 A | Nick Nurse Threw a lot of defenses out there man, a lot. 2-1-2 zone, triangle, box-and-whatever. Point is that he kept the Celtics guessing and Brad Stevens even alluded to that in one of his quarter-break interviews. Most of all, held his guns and played his best team. This was a must-win game and he treated it like they had their backs to the wall. Which they did. Gotta use that challenge though on something. | |
Things We Saw
- The old switcheroo! Celtics shot 7-35 3FG (20%) and the Raptors 17-44 (39%). The Raptors are definitely getting better looks, notably VanVleet and Lowry. Brown on the other hand was 2-11 and both those two came late. The Raptors are contesting better so this can’t be just chalked off to “make or miss league” (hate that phrase).
- Gasol was almost exclusively sagging on the pick ‘n roll and our guards were doing a much better job of not losing Walker or Smart after they had used the screen. That extra discomfort can often be the key to getting a stop.
- Let Tatum get whatever he wants. He’s not a creator and the more he shoots, the more Boston becomes predictable and eventually easier to stop.
- Lowry man, shame on me for not owning his jersey. Gonna go buy one.
