NBA Highlights Sept. 11 – Celtics win Game 7 to reach Eastern Finals

The Boston Celtics beat the Toronto Raptors 92-87 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals on Friday, winning the series 4-3. They will face the Miami Heat in the Conference Finals. Miami eliminated regular season leader Milwaukee Bucks 4-1 in the other Eastern Semifinals.

Despite the loss and elimination, Toronto as defending champions were able to come out raising their heads. They didn’t have their best performing player when they won the title; the one who took most of their hopes did not reach 30 points in any of the seven games; his bench team only began to play a bigger role since Game 6.

Yet Toronto managed to hold out for that long and bounced back twice in Game 7. They lost, but they did it with honor.

Before Game 7, TNT revealed a couple of stats as a tip: In the three games each side won, they all beat the other at a rate of 3 points by more than 10 percent. That meant that shooting from the center had to be one of the deciding factors of the competition.

Then both Boston and Toronto capped each other’s 3-point rate to less than 30 percent. Toronto continued to cage Kemba Walker, Boston’s best playmaker with his signature “Box-1” defense. As a result, Walker was just 5-16 to get 14 points, six rebounds and four assists. In response, Boston put a leash on Kyle Lowry: They didn’t want the 34-year-old to score more than 33 points. As a result, Lowry missed 10 of his 15 attempts and was ultimately eliminated for foul.

Both sides needed someone else to stand out. Fred VanVleet and his teammates on the bench tried to take responsibility. They did the job well when VanVleet lost 20 points, a team-high, and scored four 3-pointers. Toronto’s bench team beat their Boston counterparts again by scoring 27-7.

Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart stood out for Boston. Both Brown and Smart fought from the 3-point line (they were 3-17 together from there) but the two contributed seven still images combined. That gave Boston a host of transition opportunities through which the team scored 23 points, all of which went to Tatum, Brown and Smart. By contrast, Toronto as the second best early offensive team in the league, only scored 10 points this way.

Then there was Tatum, who had 29 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and buried four 3-pointers for Boston, all team highs. The 22-year-old is the second-youngest player to score at least 25 + 10 + 5 in Game 7 of the playoffs after Kobe Bryant. The rebound he got in the 34th second was worth more than the next two free throws he made. Boston will need more of his performances in the next series against Miami.

Another miracle in store for the Nuggets?

The Denver Nuggets claimed a comeback victory over the Los Angeles Clippers 111-105, making the series 3-2. The Clippers established a 15-plus point lead twice in the game, but failed to take the victory in the end.

Kawhi Leonard and Paul George did their job by adding 62 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists together. The two also drilled nine 3s and 13 free throws. However, their efforts were in vain for Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell. Williams and Harrell have won four NBA Sixth Man of the Year awards four times together and were supposed to be the best scoring couple on the bench. Instead, they finished 5-17 to get just 10 points combined in Friday’s game.

Both Williams and Harrell are huge gaps in defense and when they couldn’t score like they usually did, they backfired against the Clippers. The Nuggets made the most of their terrible defense in the fourth quarter. Jamal Murray kept chasing Williams on offense, while Nikola Jokic repeatedly proved that there is nothing Harrell can do to stop him from helping the Nuggets score.

Jokic and Murray went 5-5 from the 3-point line for a total of 20 points and five assists in the fourth quarter.

Another key factor in the Nuggets’ victory on Friday was Michael Porter Jr. The rookie was seriously criticized after he complained to the coach for not having enough opportunities on the team. Nonetheless, he drilled a 3-pointer and delivered a block in the fourth quarter to make great contributions to the team’s victory. By the way, it was Williams who was defending Porter when he made that shot.

Clippers coach Doc Rivers has witnessed opponents come back from 3-1 twice in his career; Such miracles have only happened three times in NBA history and one of them came from the Nuggets in the last round. Will it happen again?