Raptors win at buzzer

Anunoby makes miracle 3- pointer

The Toronto Raptors were a half- second away from falling into the abyss that no NBA team has ever escaped. Down by two points, down by two games, the reigning champs needed a miracle.

Cue OG Anunoby. Anunoby caught a cross- court pass that Kyle Lowry threaded over everybody else on the floor and hit a 3- pointer as time expired, giving the Raptors a 104- 103 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Thursday night.

The Celtics lead the series 2- 1 but the Raptors have realistic hope. They mobbed Anunoby after the shot.

“Someone hit me in the nose,” Anunoby said. “It’s cool.”

Nets

Steve Nash was one of the NBA’s most entertaining point guards, the engineer of a high- scoring team that helped usher in a new era of basketball. Now Brooklyn wants to see what he can do as a coach. The Nets hired Nash on Thursday, putting the Hall of Famer in charge of the team that hopes to have Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving together next season.

Grizzlies

The first three baskets of Memphis’ season set the tone for Ja Morant’s rookie year. All were layups, all by him, the level of difficulty increasing each time. He made them look easy that night. He made plenty look easy all season. Morant was announced Thursday as the runaway winner of the rookie of the year award for 2019- 20, the first Grizzlies player to win the award since Pau Gasol in 2001- 02. Morant averaged 17.8 points and 7.3 assists this season.