Raptors vs. Celtics
The Toronto Raptors were fighting to even up the series, and even though they put up much more of a fight then game 1 it still seemed like the Celtics were the better team.
This game started out close, and it seemed like that would be the way the whole game went. Both teams were fighting for the lead, and it seemed like a completely different game then game 1. The score was tied at 28 at the end of the first, and the Raptors were playing much better on offense and defense. Both teams were playing at high levels on both sides of the court, and Boston held a small 2 point lead by the end of the first half. While the beginning of the third quarter started just like the rest of the game, the Raptors started pulling away in the middle of the third. They got a huge game from a young player in OG Anunoby, 20 points and led the team in scoring, and got double digit scoring from 4 other players. While the Raptors were able to pull out to an 8 point lead by the end of the third, the Celtics immediately answered in the fourth and took an 8 point lead of their own in the waning minutes of the game. The Celtics were led by another phenomenal game by Jayson Tatum, 34 points, and a great shooting night from Marcus Smart, 6 made threes, who was contributing on the defensive and offensive side of the floor. The Raptors made a huge push to close the gap to 1 point with a minute left in the game, but Kemba Walker hit a clutch jumpshot to put the Celtics up by 3 and ultimately closed out the game.
The Toronto Raptors played much better then they did in game 1, but are now down 2-0 in this series and need to get a win in game 3 to keep themselves in the series. The Raptors need a big game from their young stars like Pascal Siakam or Fred VanVleet to match the production of Tatum, Brown, and Walker.
Final Score: BOS 102 TOR 99
Jazz vs. Nuggets
The first game 7 of the NBA bubble, and it was exciting from the beginning to the end. Both teams had superstars at the point guard position, but it was not the shootout that we were expecting. Both teams struggled shooting, and had great defensive performances.
The Denver Nuggets carried over some of their momentum from the past few games, to take a quick advantage over the Jazz after the first quarter. The Nuggets were able to take a 26-21 lead at the end of the first. The Nuggets took the small advantage and blew it up in the Jazz’s face. They took a 5 point lead, and expanded it to 14 by the end of the first half. Jamal Murray had a slow start for the Nuggets, and this gave opportunity to Nikola Jokic, 30 points, to take over the game. The Jazz were slowly crawling back into the game, and both teams had yet to score the massive amounts of points that we expected from them. The score was 65-60 at the end of the third, and this was an expected halftime score for some of the other games in this series. The Jazz were relying on Donovan Mitchell,22 points, and Rudy Gobert,19 points, to take over the game and that is exactly what they did. The Jazz were able to cut the nice lead that the Nuggets had, and the game was tied with 50 seconds to go. Nikola Jokic hit a dagger shot to put the Nuggets up 2, and that was ultimately the final point of the game. Both teams could not get a score, which summed up how the rest of the game had gone.
Final Score: DEN 80 UTH 78
DEN wins series 4-3
Top Image: AP Images/Mark J. Terrill