OG Anunoby has been on a tear this season, improving in all areas of the game. His gamewinner to save the Raptors’ season signalled another level up for the youngster.
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With the Toronto Raptors down 2-0 in the series and 103-101 in the game with just 0.5 seconds remaining, they needed a lifeline to bail them out. They got it from the efforts of OG Anunoby, who hit a corner 3 with the game clock expiring to keep the Raptors from going into a virtually unescapable 3-0 hole in the Conference Semifinals.
OG Anunoby’s gamewinner vs Celtics, Skip Bayless is all praise
Prior to Anunoby’s effort, the Raptors and Celtics went toe-to-toe throughout the game. Neither team led by a margin greater than 10 at any point. The margin in the 4th quarter was never more than 4 points between the two.
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OG CALLED GAME 🚨 pic.twitter.com/VhaWNOIum6
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 4, 2020
Skip Bayless too weighed in on that ‘rainbow’ cross court pass from Kyle Lowry and then that emphatic finish from OG Anunoby to keep the series alive.
WHAT A RAINBOW CROSSCOURT PASS BY LOWRY OVER 7-FOOT-5 TACKO AND WHAT A CATCHANDSHOOT BUZZER THREE TO WIN IT BY OG. TORONTO SURVIVES, EVEN WITHOUT KAWHI.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) September 4, 2020
Prior to the game winning sequence, the Raptors were brought level at 101 each by a stupendous layup from Fred vanVleet. The Raptors then threw a trap at Kemba Walker near half court. Walker nimbly navigated the double team and dumped off a perfect no-look pass to Theis at the dunker’s spot. Theis put the game almost out of reach with only 0.5 seconds left.\
Brad Stevens did not miss a single trick. He put Tacko Fall into the game to make the inbounds pass following the Raptors’ timeout as tough as possible for Kyle Lowry. Their out of bounds play was initially drawn up for van Vleet or Siakam (as revealed by Kyle Lowry in the courtside interview). But the Celtics were able to prevent either from getting the ball.
Ad-libbing, Lowry threw a desperation rainbow pass to Anunoby on the opposite corner. Luckily for the Raptors, Jaylen Brown had decided to guard the paint rather than his man primarily, probably to stop a lob to the hoop. This gave Anunoby the opportunity to get a clean shot off, and he made no mistake. Anunoby finished with 12 points on the night, converting 3 of his 5 3-pointers.
