TORONTO AVOIDS 3-0 HOLE
Anunoby’s buzzer-beater gives Raptors new life.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — 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 champions needed a miracle. OG Anunoby delivered. Anunoby caught a crosscourt 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 still lead the series 2-1. But it’s not 3-0 — and that means the Raptors still have realistic hope. The Raptors mobbed Anunoby after the shot, reveling in the moment.
“Someone hit me in the nose,“Anunoby said. “It’s cool.”
The Celtics took a twopoint lead when Kemba Walker found Daniel Theis for a dunk with a halfsecond left.
No team in NBA history has rallied from a 3-0 series deficit. The Raptors won’t have to try it now.
Lowry elected to audible and throw the long pass to Anunoby, getting it over Boston’s 7-foot-5 Tacko Fall, who was put in to disrupt the inbounds play.
“The pass was nothing,“Lowry said. “OG made the shot. All the credit goes to the shot, man. That’s a tough shot. Give OG that credit. The pass was just to get it to a guy like OG. It’s OG’s moment, man. That’s a great moment for that kid.”
Lowry finished with 31 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Fred VanVleet added 25 points.
Walker scored 29 points for Boston, which lost for the first time in seven playoff games. Jaylen Brown had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Jayson Tatum finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Celtics.
“It hurts and stings to lose,“Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “But we’ll just get back to it and get ready for Saturday.”
After a Brown dunk Boston up 99-95 with 3:02 left, Lowry made a pair of layups, both drawing Toronto within two. VanVleet then got an acrobatic layup to drop with 21.5 seconds left to knot it at 101.
Theis’ score put Toronto on the brink. Anunoby rescued the champs.
“Much credit to those guys,“Walker said. “That was a hell of a shot.”
CLIPPERS 120, NUGGETS 97
Kawhi Leonard scored 29 points as Los Angeles rolled in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.
Paul George scored 19 points and Marcus Morris added 18. The Clippers shot 57 percent from the field.
Nikola Jokic scored 15 points for the Nuggets, who were coming off a sevengame series with Utah that just ended Tuesday. Jamal Murray, who averaged 31.6 points in the first round and scored at least 50 points twice in that series, finished with just 12 points on 5-for-15 shooting.
Denver shot just 42 percent.
The Clippers took charge in the second quarter, outscoring the Nuggets 38-20 to take a 69-51 lead at halftime. Los Angeles held Denver to 25 percent shooting into the second quarter.
The Clippers continued to dominate in the third quarter, holding the Nuggets to 16 points in the period and taking a 91-67 lead into the fourth. Los Angeles’ biggest lead in the quarter was 29 points.