Lowry's heroics put Raptors in position for miraculous Game 3 win

Some sports moments are simply too improbable to describe or comprehend.

It's unbelievable enough that a 6-foot Kyle Lowry threw an overhead pass across the full 50-foot width of the court, over the outstretched arms of 7-foot-5 Tacko Fall, with the ball landing on a silver platter in OG Anunoby's shooting pocket for a game-winning 3-pointer.

The sequence taking place on an inbounds play with half a second remaining and the Raptors down two only adds to the indescribable euphoria Toronto must be feeling right now. It also helps explain why the Celtics looked so despondent after the final buzzer, despite still leading their Eastern Conference semifinal 2-1.

That such a moment was the difference between winning and losing is also a reminder of just how evenly matched the Raptors and Celtics are in this series, and how thin the line will be between one of these teams leaving the NBA campus and the other continuing on its playoff journey.

As the Raptors have come to understand during Lowry's time in Toronto, surviving along those razor-thin margins is a lot more tenable because of their star floor general.

Anunoby sealed the game with his buzzer-beater, and the third-year forward has been tremendous on both ends of the court through three games against Boston. But just like Anunoby's game-winner stemmed from Lowry's magical pass, the gap between victory and defeat for the Raptors - between the defending champions' survival and their inevitable doom had they gone down 3-0 - can be traced back to Lowry's mastery.

Lowry, whose Game 1 status was up in the air until a few hours before tipoff due to a sprained ankle, wasn't quite himself during Toronto's two losses to open the series, hitting 10-of-28 shots from the field. As he told reporters following Game 3, the six-time All-Star received a text message between Games 2 and 3 from a close friend that read, "Stop waiting."

Perhaps a simple ribbing is all the greats need, because Lowry certainly didn't wait to feel out Thursday's must-win contest.

The veteran scored or assisted on 15 of Toronto's first 19 points, and he single-handedly matched the Celtics' 10-point output over the game's first five minutes.

At various points throughout the night, he guarded Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart. Lowry dropped a 50-foot dime over Fall for the win, and he slipped another through the legs of Daniel Theis a couple of hours earlier. That's how he recorded two of his game-high eight assists to go along with 31 points - also a game-high - on 56.5% shooting.

Lowry grabbed as many rebounds (six) as Toronto's starting center (Marc Gasol), and he pulled down as many offensive rebounds (two) as any other player on the court Thursday night.

When the Raptors began to look uncharacteristically defeated after Celtics runs or their own defensive miscues - like the mistake that allowed Kemba Walker to find Theis for what should've been the brilliant, game-winning assist we're all talking about right now - it was Lowry who rallied his troops. It was also Lowry, still grimacing from taking a Brad Wannamaker knee to the groin, who would respond with a hard drive against a Celtics defense no other Raptor could consistently penetrate, providing a spark of belief to raise Toronto's slumped shoulders.

And with the Celtics on an 8-0 run and up four points in the final two minutes of a game and season that appeared to be slipping away, two of those determined Lowry drives and that miraculous inbounds pass pulled the Raptors back from the edge. Toronto outscored Boston 9-4 over the final 1:59 of regulation, with Lowry scoring or assisting on seven of those points (and pulling down a rebound).

There's a lot to discuss through three games of this series.

For the Raptors, Anunoby is emerging as a two-way stud with a higher offensive ceiling than any of us envisioned. But All-Star Pascal Siakam has been a shell of himself offensively, Fred VanVleet has struggled mightily while trying to deal with Boston's lengthy wing defense, and Gasol has been valuable defensively while nearly unplayable offensively. Toronto's assumed depth advantage also hasn't yet been a factor.

For the Celtics, their abundance of shot-creators is giving Toronto fits, and Boston's ability to get back in transition while using its length against a Raptors offense that already struggles in the halfcourt has led to a clear advantage.

The Celtics dominated the Raptors in Game 1 and answered every Toronto run in Games 2 and 3 with the type of haymakers that would put most teams down for the count. And when the threat of Walker's pull-up ability caused the Raptors' breakdown that led to Theis' go-ahead basket with 0.5 seconds left, it appeared the Celtics had the champs on the brink.

But as Rudy Tomjanovich reminded us 25 years ago, you can never underestimate the heart of a champion. For the reigning champs, who are suddenly alive again after an improbable finish, that heart was kept beating by every second of Lowry's 46:29 of action Thursday night, including the last half-second that he spent standing out of bounds.