The Boston Celtics took a 2-0 lead over the Toronto Raptors after a dramatic 102-99 victory on Tuesday night. The game was a thriller, decided in the last seconds, with clutch plays from both teams. Several people think these two are the biggest threat to the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference and you could see why yesterday. It seemed like the Raptors were going to tied the series but the C’s told otherwise after Marcus Smart, Kemba Walker and Jayson Tatum took over.
Tatum made a big impact from the free-throw line yesterday, days after he complained about not getting ‘star treatment’ by the referees. Well, things were different last night and not everybody was pleased with that.
Raptors coach Nick Nurse was very outspoken about this after the game, taking shots at the officials for ‘taking care’ of Tatum during Game 2 of their second-round series.
“The only frustrating part about it is this: he shoots 14 free throws, which is as much as our whole team shoots,” said Nurse. “That’s the frustrating part. I think our guys were working hard on him and we were doing a pretty good job.
“He did make some good shots,” he said of Tatum. “They were obviously getting him the ball a lot, getting him in space. We could’ve helped a little bit better here and there, but they took very good care of him tonight.”
Nick Nurse was asked how frustrating it was to see Jayson Tatum take over.
"The only frustrating part about it is this: He shoots 14 free throws, which is as much as our whole team shoots. … They took very good care of him tonight." pic.twitter.com/KvIgFS3RXc
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) September 2, 2020
In the end, his team won the game by only 3 points. If the shooters wouldn’t have shot only 28% from 3, perhaps the game would’ve had a different outcome. The picture doesn’t look good for the Raptors now, who have five more games to play and they need to win four. If they keep playing this way, Brad Stevens will take his team to the Eastern Conference Finals once again.
They didn’t lose this game because of Tatum and Nurse must be aware of that.
