The Boston Celtics (9-6) beat the Toronto Raptors (12-4) 123-116 after extra time in an exciting and high-class game. Toronto had advantages at the beginning of the second half thanks to Kawhi Leonard, but then the hour of the outstanding Kyrie Irving struck.
The top teams in the East weakened last. Toronto lost the last two games and Celtics also suffered four defeats in the past six games. The Celtics quickly fell behind, but then started their first run (7:0). The duel was fiercely contested and both teams showed commitment on the defensive.
But then Kyrie Irving ran hot for the first time, scored 12 points in the first leg and gave his team the tight lead. Also at the beginning of the second quarter Boston had an upper water, the Celts achieved a turnaround of 15 points, after they were 7 points behind at first, Boston was fast in front with 8 points. Among other things due to the strong performance of Marcus Morris (11 points), who directly hit his first four throws coming from the bank.
A short time later they even increased the lead to 13 points and the Raptors reacted with a timeout. Up to this point they simply left too many simple counters on the board and seemed without rhythm. The Canadian reserve players were outscorted 7:16 until here. Only two Danny Green threeers kissed the visitors awake, a 11:2 run in the middle of the second quarter was the result. Kawhi Leonard’s triumvirate finally took the lead, but then the Celtics started a 7-0 run again. The physically fought out first half then came to an end (54:52).
But in the second half the Celts started cold and needed too much time to get on the scoreboard for the first time. On the other hand, Toronto already scored 7 points, despite obvious problems from downtown. Furthermore the aggressive penetration of the zone was effective and in the post you could marvel at some exciting duels. Serge Ibaka and Al Horford often met there and no Big Man lacked willpower. Suddenly Lowry shot in a well defended threesome and pulled a foul to the basket.
Since the Celtics’ 13-point lead, Toronto had a 47-24 run and were now ahead with 10 points, their highest lead of the match so far. The intensity remained high and Boston tried to fight back with all means. However, they tried it a little too often from the middle distance, instead of attacking the zone with clever cuts as before.
But this didn’t matter, because Kyrie was really hot again and scored 19 points in the final section. The Point Guard equalled with a threesome and then prevailed in the transition against three opponents. At the free-throw line he finally scored his 10,000 point in the NBA.
Also Kawhi convinced in the Crunchtime and hit some important throws, so everything remained open until the end. But then Green again got two unnecessary fouls and had to take a seat on the bench prematurely. Now it went under and over, strong hits from the triple line, Turnover, a Dunk of Jayson Tatum (21), free throws for Gordon Hayward (15) and already one was in the Overtime, also because Leonard missed a possible Gamewinner clearly.
The last mentioned Celtics wings also played a decisive role for Celtics in the extension. They quickly moved away, were heated up by the fans and didn’t let the Raptors come back. On their side, the movements were frozen and the offensive seemed to be without plan. Siakam (16) also fouls out now and Horford (11) finishes the match with two clean goals under preliminary work of Kyrie (43).
Kawhi finished the game with 31 points (11/25 FG), 15 rebounds and 3 steals. Team mate Lowry was less effective, scored 14 points (3/12 FG) and prepared 7 goals. Topscorer of the game was Kyrie with 43 points (18/26 FG), additionally he distributed 11 assists and stole the ball 3 times. The German Daniel Theis was not used.
Boston Celtics (9-6) – Toronto Raptors (12-4) 123:116 OT (BOXSCORE)
Kyrie Irving. Who else is eligible, anyway? The All-Star scored 19 points in the final section alone and kept his team in the game as the Raptors almost went away. Overall, the Point Guard scored 43 points with excellent efficiency (18/26 FG) and was always noticeable when the game seemed to tip over. His teammates were able to rely on him and were presented with the Kyrie Spalding (a total of 11 assists) even in the decisive phase of the game. The 26-year-old was also on the defensive and threw himself after every ball.
Kyle Lowry. Although it looked for a short time as if the 32-year-old had caught his breath again, he disappeared completely in the final phase of the game. He scored most of his points on the free-throw line (7/8 FT), but he threw catastrophically out of the field and could not convince from outside (1/6 3FG). The point guard caused 4 turnovers and never really came into the game. When Lowry realized that he wouldn’t find his rhythm anymore, he gave Kawhi the rudder completely.
As always, Brad Stevens adjusted his boys defensively well to the opponent. The Raptors did not get easy throws from the triple line and had to fight for many points by free throws. In addition, two of Toronto’s players were early on the sixth foul, so they lacked key defenders in the final stages. Through neatly placed blocks there were some open throws and room for clean cuts to the basket.