The Toronto Raptors were about to say goodbye to the season with fresh wind at the end of the third conference semifinal game against Boston. If the rescue hadn’t come in extremis, on the horn, by OG Anunoby, now we would be talking about the reigning champion in terms of funeral. Quite simply, their season would have ended – save a miracle – since no team in history at this point came back from 3-0.
The park ran out of prize and Toronto could breathe easy. The series has gone 2-1 and the feeling in the Toronto dressing room could be that this rugged finish was just what they needed to wake up from the nightmare of the first three games. Because, to be honest, the Celtics were better for much of the third fight, too.
They couldn’t finish off the greens and Toronto could have grown. The Jurassic, carnivorous nature of Nick Nurse’s team, which was already champion last season, could have been rekindled.
Fred VanVleet, point guard for the Canadian side that kept his team in tune with 25 points, believes Boston made a big mistake by not closing Game 3. Error not only for having fallen in a singular duel, but for having awakened the winning character of the Raptors.
Shortly after finishing the Game 3, the point guard was finishing being interviewed by a television station on the slopes. After his appearance, VanVleet approached the position where Masai Ujiri -president- and Bobby Webster-general manager– and shouted with pride: “La han fucked **”, about his rival in the series.
“They have screwed up now,” VanVleet could assert and journalist Sam Amick, credited with the limits of the bubble, said.
The first round and Brooklyn
In addition to his prediction for the remainder of the series with the Celtics, VanVleet was also able to claim that the first-round matchup with Brooklyn did not favor the Raptors’ form.
“With all due respect to Brooklyn, I don’t think that would prepare us to play at the level we needed in the first game. [ante Boston]. Nobody was happy. People were pissed off. The atmosphere was not great ”, commented VanVleet and was able to pick up the journalist Ben Golliver.
We do not know if a turning point or not for what remains; but for sure the end of Game 3 saved Toronto from going through the funeral home early. Of the other, it will be seen.
(Cover photo: (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice / Getty Images)
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