Article content continued
“Obviously, right now I’m frustrated because I feel like I could have helped the team more in different areas and that’s on me,” said Gasol, a minus-19 on the night. “But, (if) I would give any advice to any of the young players, I’ll try to be as positive as possible with myself and as constructive as possible. And continue to work.”
But the loss in Game 7, as close as the game turned out to be, was rooted in the Raptors’ inability to protect the basketball. Toronto, which entered the game with the fewest turnovers of any playoff team, did so an uncharacteristic 18 times, leading to 31 points. As head coach Nick Nurse would say afterwards, that was the game, right there.
As expected, Game 7 was a bit of a disjointed mess as the Raps and Celtics took turns dominating. Both teams also came in somewhat spent from a long, hard-fought series in which both coaches rode their starters hard.
The Celtics jumped out to an early lead off a 13-0 run. The Raptors responded with a 20-7 run of their own to end the first quarter and take a lead at the end of the first period.
The Raptors held the momentum early in the second quarter and expanded their lead to seven before some sloppiness got into their game leading to seven turnovers and 13 Boston points.
By the end of the half, that seven point lead was a four-point deficit.
Fatigue seemed to be having a much larger impact on the Raptors than on the Celtics after key players from both teams played 50-plus minutes in that double-overtime Game 6 win by Toronto two nights earlier.
