After the #3 Eastern Conference seed Boston Celtics and #2 Toronto Raptors swept through their first round playoff series against Philadelphia and Brooklyn respectively, the two teams now get set for a best of seven second round clash beginning Thursday night.
Boston (57-27) won three of four meetings with Toronto this season, most recently at the bubble back on August 7 by a score of 122-100. This series has a chance to be one of the most entertaining in any of the other playoff matchups across the league, with plenty of star power on both sides. The Raptors are the defending world champions, and have been led by guards Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet along with forward Pascal Siakam. Lowerys status remains unclear for game one due to an ankle injury, while the Celtics will be without Gordon Hayward who suffered a badly sprained ankle in game one against the 76ers and will miss the entire series. Boston will again rely heavily on their big three that led them to a 4-0 sweep over Philadelphia in Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kemba Walker. The bench scoring also becomes important as Toronto (64-20) has gotten great production from Serge Ibaka, Norman Powell, and Terence Davis. The Celts in the meantime have seen their bench production coming from Enes Kanter and Brad Wanamaker, and also good minutes from Grant Williams, Robert Williams III, and Semi Ojeleye. The Raptors averaged 56.5 points per game off the bench in the sweep over the Nets, greatly inflated by a 100 point effort in a blowout game four.
Prediction- This definitely has the making of going the entire seven games. The teams are the hottest in the league since the NBA restart, with Boston at 9-3 and Toronto at 11-1, with their only loss coming to the Celtics. Certainly not an easy pick to make with the coaching tangibles, star power, and level of play and intensity. This is also a head to head of two of the best defensive teams in the league. I’ll give the Raptors the edge, simply because of more bench depth if there is any advantage at all in this matchup. This series could really go either way. TORONTO IN SEVEN GAMES.
Boston vs Toronto schedule (games 2 through 7 all with times to be determined)
Game 1- Thurs Aug 27 6:30 p.m. (Toronto home team)
Game 2- Sat Aug 29 (Toronto home team)
Game 3- Mon Aug 31 (Boston home team)
Game 4- Tues Sept 2 (Boston home team)
*Game 5- Thurs Sept 4 (Toronto home team)
*Game 6- Sat Sept 6 (Boston home team)
*Game 7- Mon Sept 8 (Toronto home team)
*-if necessary
