Toronto Win or Boston Loss?

The 2020 NBA playoffs are not letting up. 

First, it was the frantic Utah-Denver Game 7 ending. Then, the foul-ridden conclusion of Miami-Milwaukee Game 2, followed by the crazy final seconds of Oklahoma City-Houston Game 7. 

Now, OG Anunoby has topped them all. 

The defending champion Toronto Raptors were half a second – there was literally 0.5 seconds left on the clock – from being down 3-0 to the Boston Celtics in the two teams' Eastern Conference semifinals matchup, before Kyle Lowry dropped a crosscourt dime to Anunoby for the game-winning three. 

So naturally, most of the talk on Friday morning was about the shot – most of the talk.

Some of that talk was reserved for the Celtics' defensive gameplan on that final play, and as impressed as Skip Bayless was with the Raptors' out-of-bounds play last night...

...he woke up less impressed with Boston's defense.

"I take nothing away from the play because it was a million-to-one shot on both sides – the pass and the shot. It's a million-to-one that you're gonna make that work. But I fault the Celtics for allowing that to happen." 

The Twitter world's analysis of Boston's defense came in heavy on Thursday night and Friday morning, with most criticizing the Celtics' decision to play zone.

After the game, Celtics coach Brad Stevens explained what he saw on the final play and credited Toronto for its offensive set, even though he admitted that they could have defended the play tighter.

"We've played a zone a lot in that circumstance. They contorted it with their alignment well, and when we matched up, we just didn't get to the shot. Credit them and credit the ability to make that shot under a little bit of duress.

"Lowry's ability to deliver that pass over Tacko [Fall] from that distance is not an easy thing to do," Stevens added. "No question we could have guarded it a little bit better, but that's something that we'll get better at and just move on."

Nick Wright agreed with Stevens' assessment that Boston should have found Anunoby earlier, and questioned how Boston could allow an open three when they were up two.

"It is a spectacular play by Lowry, a spectacular play by OG Anunoby ... but it is a breakdown by the Celtics. I'm not gonna say it flipped the series, but the series was over, and now it's not."

Stephen A. Smith had an even more harsh reaction to Boston's defense.

"I blame the Celtics. The game was theirs ... I don't understand for the life of two things. No. 1, what the hell was Brad Stevens doing? ... I don't know why he had them playing zone. That makes no sense ... And No. 2, I'm gonna point the finger at Jaylen Brown, who pointed the finger at himself."

During the postgame press conference, Brown was indeed unhappy with his role in the final possession.

Still, not everyone pointed the finger solely at Brown, Stevens and Boston, including Shannon Sharpe, who said that Lowry's pass to Anunoby for the three was more impressive than Derek Fisher's famous 0.4 shot back in May 2004 against the San Antonio Spurs.

"It's really hard for me to say if [Boston lost] or [Toronto won], but it took an extraordinary play, so I tend to lean to the extraordinary play and say they won it as opposed to the Celtics losing it." 

Clearly, there's enough blame to go around from Thursday night's game. 

But what's also clear is we've got a series – and you can't blame fans for being excited about that.