The Perspective
The Perspective
Aug 27, 2020
Nate McMillan Fired & TOR/BOS Series Breakdown (08.27.20)
Play • 16 min

- Pacers have fired Nate McMillian. This is extremely weird as the Pacers had reworked his contract for his final year to be this upcoming season with a team option for 21-22. - 

Celtics/Raptors preview 

This series has the potential to go seven games. Both of these teams have championship aspirations and it all begins here. Boston did win the regular season series, 3-1. Toronto has been the most impressive team in the bubble so far, but Boston is not too far behind them. These teams matchup quite well, so this series will ultimately come down to the game plans implemented my Nick Nurse and Brad Stevens. Where TOR May have a slight advantage is that their roster is healthy as the Celtics will be without Gordon Hayward. While the loss will hurt the Celtics, they have enough talent to overcome his injury. I want to take a look at each of the positional matchups - Kemba Walker vs. Kyle Lowry (TIE) - Marcus Smart vs. Fred VanVleet (VanVleet) - Jaylen Brown vs. OG Anunoby (Brown) - Jayson Tatum vs. Pascal Siakam (Tatum) - Daniel Theis vs. Marc Gasol (Gasol) - Boston Bench vs. Toronto Bench (TOR) Let’s take a look at what could be the deciding factors in this series: Is Kyle Lowry going to be 100% in this series? - The state of his ankle will be a huge concern until they are completely sure it is good to go. This can change the outlook of the series if he is unable to go for the first couple of games and Boston is able to get up early in the series. Unfortunately, this is not the first postseason where Lowry has been hampered with injuries. For the sake of the Raptors, they have performed well without Lowry in the lineup as they went 12-2 this season with him on the sidelines. Boston will enter this series with a lot of confidence - Will this be a mentality series? As I previously mentioned, the Celtics won the season series 3-1. What is even more impressive is that they won three games by an average of 14.7 points per game including a 22 point win during the seeding games. Toronto is going to need the best out of Siakam - Right now, the status of Kyle Lowry is uncertain. This adds more weight/pressure on Pascal Siakam. He has been up and down within the bubble so far. His play has definitely gotten better over the past few games and it looks like he is finding his rhythm. While not too far off, his numbers did take a dip vs. Boston as he average 22 PPG/5 RPG/1 APG and shot 43.2% from the field. He did shoot 50% from 3 though. It will interesting to see if Toronto is going to get All-Star Siakam or the one who has struggled against the Celtics in the past. Look for fastbreak points to be huge in the Boston/Toronto series: Fastbreak Points Scored per game: 1 TOR - 18.8 PPG 6 BOS - 15.2 PPG Fastbreak Points Allowed per game: 11 TOR - 12.7 PPG 16 BOS - 16.2 PPG In the playoffs, Toronto and Boston are 1-2 in fastbreak pts scored. BOS is #1 in fastbreak allowed at just 4.8 ppg allowed. TOR is #14 at 15.8 points allowed per game. But those are heavily influenced by opponent. PHI rarely ran, while BKN played track meets. So the question will be if Boston can slow down the Raptors need for speed? - The Raptors have been a terror for teams in transition as they average 24.2 transition possessions per game which is best in the league. What is even more outstanding is that the score 1.15 points per possession. This puts an emphasis on BOS to get back on defense and slow them down. What makes them so difficult to defend this aspect of their offense is how well the score off of live rebounds and with the ability Siakam has to initiate the offense, it creates more problems. I think an under appreciated part it is outlet ability of Gasol to the ball into the hands of Lowry/VanVleet to get out and run. But Boston is equipped to slow them down since they possess athletic wings such as Tatum & Brown as well as defensive stalwart, Marcus Smart.

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