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Toronto Raptors guard Norman Powell (24) celebrates after being fouled by Boston Celtics center Daniel Theis (27) during the second half of a LA conference semifinal basketball game NBA on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida (AP Photo / Mark J. Terrill)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – The Toronto Raptors faced a sizable deficit early. They fell behind in the fourth quarter. And again in the first extension. And again in the second overtime.
Exhausted and on the edge of the abyss, the reigning NBA champions rose to the occasion.
Up next: Game 7, for a place in the Eastern Conference finals.
OG Anunoby, the Game 3 hero with a bell-hitting 3, put the Raptors ahead to take a 3-pointer with just under a minute left in double overtime, Kyle Lowry landed an acrobatic leap to fall with 11.7 seconds to go and the Raptors beat the Boston Celtics 125-122 in Game 6 on Wednesday night.
Lowry scored 33 points in 53 minutes for Toronto. Norman Powell had 23, including a pair of free throws with 5.0 seconds left. Fred VanVleet scored 21 points for the Raptors, who needed victory to extend their season, and Anunoby had 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Jaylen Brown scored 31 points and 16 rebounds for the Celtics, who had their starters on the court, without a single substitute, for the final 22 minutes or more, returning to the 23.5 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Jayson Tatum had 29 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. Marcus Smart had 23 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, and missed a triple that would have tied him with about 3 seconds left in the second overtime session.
Toronto Raptors guard Norman Powell (24) shoots on Boston Celtics guard Kemba Walker (8) during the second half of an NBA conference semifinal basketball game, Wednesday September 9, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida (AP Photo / Mark J. Terrill)
Daniel Theis had 18 points for the Celtics. Theis played 47 minutes: the other four Boston starters Tatum, Smart, Brown and Kemba Walker (who was limited to five points) recorded at least 50. And tempers flared when it was over, all got a few extra words before Game 7 on Friday.
The numbers were ridiculous: Boston shot 44 out of 100, Toronto 44 out of 101.
Boston led 52-48 at halftime, after both teams had no shortage of offensive struggles in the first half.
TIP-INS
Raptors: Lowry played the entire second half again, the third time it happened in the last four games. … Lowry received a cut below the chin in the second quarter, which he argued was from a Boston elbow. No foul was called.
Celtics: Brown took 18 shots in the first half, the most by a Celtics player in the first 24 minutes of a game since Antoine Walker shot 18 on November 29, 2002, also against Toronto. … Boston fell to 17-22 from 2008 when it has a chance to clinch a series.
GAME HISTORY 7
The Celtics will be in Game 7 for the 33rd time; They are 23-9 all-time, but have lost four of their last seven final games.
The Raptors are 3-2 in Game 7.
ROAD, SWEET ROAD
Technically, the home and away rankings still apply for bubble record keeping, so both teams are now 0-3 “at home” in the series. Game 7 will be considered a Toronto home game.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
The seventh game is Friday.
gsg
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