After playing three of their starters 40-plus minutes and fighting for their playoff survival, the Toronto Raptors were staring a 3-0 deficit to the Boston Celtics in the face and were down to their final second. Make that a half second.
Kemba Walker, who finished the game with 29 points, nearly iced the game for the Celtics with an assist when he found a cutting Daniel Theis for the go-ahead dunk, leaving just 0.5 seconds on the clock and giving Boston a 103-101 lead.
Head coach Nick Nurse put the ball into his All-Star point guard’s hands, as Kyle Lowry had the daunting task of finding someone open with the 7-5 Tacko Fall guarding the inbounds play.
Somehow, Lowry found OG Anunoby open in the corner, and the Raptors forward hit the franchise’s first buzzer-beater since Kawhi Leonard hit a memorable series-clinching buzzer-beater to eliminate the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2019 playoffs.
WHAT A PASS. WHAT A SHOT.
OG Anunoby’s #TissotBuzzerBeater through the lens of our slo-mo #PhantomCam! #ThisIsYourTime#NBAPlayoffs #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/jhwCqNmzLe
— NBA (@NBA) September 4, 2020
The league’s stars took to Twitter to react to Anunoby’s thrilling game-winner and the Raptors 104-103 win over the Celtics.
WOW!!!!! BALL GAME!!!!!!
— Trae Young (@TheTraeYoung) September 4, 2020
OG!!!!! BIG TIME!!!!
— Victor Oladipo (@VicOladipo) September 4, 2020
OG!!!
— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) September 4, 2020
OG THATS HOW YOU FEEL???
— Josh Okogie (@CallMe_NonStop) September 4, 2020
Yoooo Basketball is just great!
— Bismack Biyombo (@bismackbiyombo) September 4, 2020
CJ McCollum noted how the Oklahoma City Thunder squandered a similar situation on Wednesday night in their Game 7 loss to the Houston Rockets.
Same situation as last night with less time . Different inbound play. Different result
— CJ McCollum (@CJMcCollum) September 4, 2020
Crazy he got the shot off with .5 seconds and Kyle made a pass over an ultra footer . Wild wild wild wild game
— CJ McCollum (@CJMcCollum) September 4, 2020
Who was the happiest person in the bubble outside of Anunoby? That would be Kyle Lowry.
I aspire to smile as big as Kyle Lowry just did lol
— Spencer Dinwiddie (@SDinwiddie_25) September 4, 2020
Try not to smile looking at this photo…. pic.twitter.com/5rRb7qOPQa
— Cassidy Hubbarth (@CassidyHubbarth) September 4, 2020
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