The two biggest plays in the Celtics’ Game 7 win over the Raptors came off tremendous hustle.
The first came with roughly a minute left and the Celtics leading 89-87 when Jayson Tatum missed a layup. Pascal Siakam got the rebound for the Raptors and passed the ball up to Norman Powell to lead the fast break. However, Powell couldn’t fully get past Marcus Smart, who blocked Powell’s layup attempt and denied the Raptors from tying the game.
“It’s funny because as soon as Norman caught the ball, instantly I remembered the last game that exact same play, he came at me full court and got the and-1,” Smart told reporters while recalling the play Powell made to put the Raptors up by four with less than a minute left in double overtime of Game 6.