Raptors’ OG Anunoby Joins NBA Legend Michael Jordan in Historic Playoff Feat

The Toronto Raptors snatched a game back after going down 0-2. After a tightly contested game, young star OG Anunoby hit a buzzer-beater to win the game for the Raptors, following which the team entered playoff history books.

They became the fourth team in history to have back-to-back postseasons with a game-winning buzzer-beater. This comes after Kawhi Leonard had a historic game-winner against the 76ers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals last season.

They join the Lakers (Jerry West and Elgin Baylor), Bulls (Michael Jordan and Tony Kukoc), and Celtics (Paul Pierce and Glen Davis) in this exclusive club.

During the Clippers-Mavericks series, Luka Doncic hit a game-winning buzzer-beater. That makes this the second postseason in NBA history with multiple buzzer-beater game-winners. The last time it happened was back in 1997 when John Stockton and Eddie Johnson hit one each.

Can the Toronto Raptors even the series?

Following two disappointing games to start the series, the Raptors could salvage a win. They could come up with a win despite another poor performance from Pascal Siakam. The All-Star has had a poor start to this postseason.

In the seven games he has played so far, he is averaging only 17 points when he averaged almost 23 in the regular season. He is also shooting a below-average 39% from the field and a miserable 25% from the three-point line. The Raptors need him to step up and cannot rely on others to bail him out every game.

Another reason the Raptors could win was a poor performance from Celtics star Jayson Tatum. He struggled all night, shooting a horrible 5/18 from the field.

After this win, coach Nick Nurse will hope his players have a morale boost. They will need to improve as a team to come back from this 1-2 deficit. Following their comfortable series win against the Nets, the Raptors were tipped to be the favorites from the East. They will have to pull their socks up and work extra hard to achieve that now.