If the Toronto Raptors were falling — and it seemed like their championship reign and maybe even this golden era was down to milliseconds — they were going down the way they climbed: fighting, pushing, clawing at anything that moves, refusing to accept what seemed inevitable.
At some point it wasn’t going to be enough. Nothing lasts forever and talent eventually wins and it appeared the Raptors' time was up.
Trailing by four with 1:31 left and on the verge of going down 3-0 in their second-round series against the Boston Celtics — a deficit that has never been overcome in NBA history — it appeared Toronto, the team that dared to dream bigger than they had a right to, was about to get dragged out of bed and crash to the floor.
The Raptors didn’t go down, though. They can dream on.
They laid everything on the line in a finish as improbable as has ever gone down in their 26 years, outlasting Boston, 104-103, on the strength of a three-pointer from OG Anunoby as time expired.
It was the finisher on a remarkable flurry in the final seconds, after Kyle Lowry pulled the Raptors within two before a twisting left-handed lay-up from Fred VanVleet tied it with 21 seconds left. Then Celtics guard Kemba Walker – who was dominant all night – brilliantly created an uncontested dunk for Daniel Thies with less than a second on the clock that seemed to rob the Raptors of time and their souls.
Instead, after a timeout where Raptors head coach Nick Nurse drew up a play he remembered from a Hubie Brown DVD, Lowry somehow threw a two-handed inbounds pass over seven-foot-five Celtics centre Tacko Fall – subbed into the game just to obstruct Lowry’s passing lanes – right on the money to Anunoby, who got off his third triple of the night, silencing the artificial Celtics fans who looked on from the bubble in disbelief.
Even by the standards of this team, which has taken fans on roller-coaster rides that twist upside down and through the dark, somehow emerging into the light, this was a bit much.
“We’ve had a lot of gutsy performances from this crew,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said in the calm aftermath. “It’s kind of what this group is. It’s Kyle and Fred and Pascal and Norm. There are a lot of guys who have fought their whole lives to get to where they are, amid other expectations, really.
“We got to the half down 10, and just again weren’t catching any breaks. The ball wasn’t going in. The ball was bouncing funny. It was just like, man, to reach in and find that gutsiness for that second half, and find it any way, even though it was very fortunate, finding a way, I’m not sure that doesn’t rank up there with our gutsiest performances.”
The Raptors were tired, in foul trouble and lacking any kind of momentum. Their best players were playing poorly. Their role players were largely absent. A magical season seemed poised to end in a whimper and not a bang. They were down at half on merit.
The Raptors now trail 2-1 in the series and can head into Game 4 on Saturday with a sense of purpose and hope, only seconds from being down 3-0 and possibly thinking that leaving Florida after nine weeks would be a decent consolation prize.
Go down fighting? Lowry played 47 minutes and VanVleet played 41. They came into the game struggling offensively yet combined for 56 points. Pascal Siakam was staring into the abyss, his confidence shot, and yet he found a way to score 14 of his 16 points in the second half, playing all 24 minutes in his best stretch of the series by a mile. Marc Gasol awoke from the dead; Norm Powell stepped into a couple of threes.
These Raptors looked recognizable at least.
It’s a win that should never have happened. But if this version of the Raptors has a trademark, it’s that they don’t pay attention to what can or should happen. It’s how they came back against the Bucks while down 0-2 a year ago. It’s how they put together a better regular season after Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green left in free agency. It’s how a rotation cobbled together out of late first-round picks, second-round picks and undrafted free agents believes they can repeat as NBA champions.
All those traits were on display in the second half, as Toronto was like the hero in an action movie, fingers on the edge, feet dangling, wind howling and the villain staring down unmercifully. Somehow, they pulled themselves up to fight once more.
The Raptors went for it in the third quarter with the series, the season and their championship reign teetering.
They were the ferocious, determined, savvy defenders they’ve been all year and were able to disrupt Boston with long stretches of an active zone defence that held the Celtics scoreless for over three minutes. The problem was that Toronto couldn’t get the ball to go in, scoring only seven points themselves – a theme in the series.
But after trailing 57-47 at the half, the Raptors kept with it and finally took a 68-66 lead with a three-pointer from Siakam, who'd been 1-of-10 from three in the series to that point. It was fair to wonder if Toronto could sustain the effort, as Nurse played all of his starters (aside from Gasol) for the quarter's complete 12 minutes.
Not to worry. It’s what they do.
“We just have that type of build and we just wanna win games,” said Lowry, who finished with 31 points and eight assists while playing all but 90 seconds of the game, grinding over every point. “We know we got a tough task [but] we just had to keep playing.
“At the end of the day, basketball is about pure heart and playing extremely tough and we got an obligation to play extremely hard and do our jobs at the highest level and we just go out there and play, do our jobs.”
Even in extreme circumstances.
After the Raptors finally led, Boston surged back and led 80-76 to start the fourth, after Brad Wannamaker scored a three-point play while his knee hit Lowry in the groin (as Lowry was jumping straight up at the rim). Lowry collapsed in pain but received no sympathy from the referees, who stuck to their call after video review.
All part of the job. The Raptors are built for this, clearly.
“I mean obviously, I got balls of steel,” Lowry said.
Where does the energy come from?
“Just trying to win the game, that's where you find energy. That's what it was. At the end? No gas at all. Balls of steel and just win.”
It was fitting the game ended on a three pointer – not being able to hit any had been the Raptors' undoing in Games 1 and 2 and it was largely the difference between the two teams, ranked second and third in the East, respectively. Boston had knocked down 32 triples on 77 attempts (41.6 per cent) while Toronto was just 21-of-80 (26.3 per cent).
The Raptors were only slightly better Thursday night at 13-of-40 (32.5 per cent), but it was enough.
The game winning play was designed for either VanVleet or Siakam, but Lowry somehow spotted Anunoby unguarded in the far corner. Remarkably, Lowry was able to get the ball to him with perfect accuracy and against the clock and over or through Fall’s waving arms – a pass that Tom Brady would be proud to call his own.
It’s common to have a player taller than Lowry inbound the ball at those moments just to open the passing angles even a smidgen more. But Nurse has never been shy to steer away from convention.
“You say to me why is Kyle taking it out? I say because he’s got some guts, man, you’ve got to make a gutsy play every now and then,” Nurse said.
The pass found the right man at the right time and Anunoby walked off the floor and into Raptors lore without even cracking a smile as he got the ball out of his hands with no time on the clock.
“When I took that shot I expected to make it,” said Anunoby, who specializes in defending the opposition’s best player and letting his game talk for him, even in the biggest moment of his career. “I don’t shoot trying to miss. Every shot I shoot I try to make it. So I was not surprised. I wasn’t surprised.”
The Raptors did it again, pulling off the impossible in a game they probably shouldn’t have won to live to fight another day.
Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised, either.
