NBA Hoosiers (Sept. 3): OG Anunoby Hits Buzzer-Beater to Save Raptors' Season

OG Anunoby is a guy who always lets his play do his talking for him. He's always been that way, first at Indiana for those two years and now with the Toronto Raptors in the NBA.

And that didn't even change on Thursday night when Anunoby hit the biggest shot of his career. He made a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Raptors a 104-103 victory over the Boston Celtics, saving their season and their chance at repeating as NBA champions.

Boston had scored to take a two-point lead with 0.5 seconds to go in Game 3 of their second-round Eastern Conference playoff series. The Raptors were on the verge of going down 3-0 in the series, a deficit that no NBA team has ever recovered from.

Toronto had a sideline out situation, and guard Kyle Lowry first looked for Pascal Siakam, but he was covered. When Marc Gasol cut toward Lowry, Boston's Jaylen Brown followed him. Anunoby raced to the far three-point line, and Lowry threw a long pass to him there. He was open and took the shot, knocking it down for the win.

"No one was rattled, and we were confident we could get a good shot off. I was open, and they got it to me,'' Anunoby said. "I expected to make it. I don's shot to miss, so that's why I wasn't surprised (that it went in).''

And his excitement level?

"It was cool,'' was all he said.

Anunoby hardly even cracked a smile after the game-winner.

“That’s just what he does, that’s him,” Lowry said. “I know deep down inside he’s excited and he’ll get a lot of text messages and he needs the credit. He deserves all the love and celebration he’s getting tonight, that kid works extremely hard and, like I said, it’s his moment.”

Anunoby missed last year's playoff run to the NBA title, and after MVP Kawhi Leonard left in the offseason, Anunoby has assumed his small forward role. He led them with 20 points in Game 2 and now hit the big shot to make it a series again.

“I don’t think he’s a guy that’s going to run around the court,” Raptors guard Fred VanVleet said. “I mean, that’s just not his personality. That was true OG form right there, to knock down the biggest shot of his life and act like nothing happened.

“But for the rest of us, we were more excited for him probably than he was for himself. So just the joy of the game and the love of the game, you gotta have that, especially this time of year, to keep you going. So that’s probably what you saw there.”

Now, they’re right back in the series. Game 4 is Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. ET

“We just needed something to feel good [about],” VanVleet said. “It’s been a rough couple of days. … We’ve been pretty hard on ourselves the past couple of days. It hasn’t been pretty. The mood hasn’t been great, but you just need a little magic and I thought we played great tonight.”

Toronto coach Nick Nurse stuck with his starters in the second half, and Anunoby played every minute, and 45 minutes overall. He had 12 points, 10 rebounds and three steals.

Thursday's other NBA game

Los Angeles Clippers 120, Denver Nuggets 97: Kawhi Leonard scored 29 points and the Clippers shot 57 percent from the field in an easy Game 1 victory in the Western Conference semifinals. Former Hoosier Noah Vonleh is on Denver's roster, but he did not dress for this game.

Friday's NBA games

Miami Heat vs. Milwaukee Bucks, 6:30 p.m. ET (TV: TNT): The top-seeded Bucks are in trouble after losing the first two games in this series. After sweeping the Indiana Pacers in the first round, the Heat are now 6-0 in the postseason and have looked very dangerous.
Houston Rockets vs. Los Angeles Lakers, 9 p.m. ET (TV: ESPN): The Rockets get back to work after winning a thrilling Game 7 in the first round behind the great play of former Hoosier Eric Gordon. This is Game 1 in the second round. The Lakers lost their opener to Portland, but then won four straight games.