OG Anunoby is nobody no more.
In his 69th game of the season, Anunoby buried an improbable three at the buzzer to give Toronto a 104-103 win over Boston.
From Anunoby to somebody.
Anunoby’s shot saved Toronto from a life support system as it allowed the defending champion Raptors to avoid a 3-0 scare in the best-of-7, second round series of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Eastern playoffs.
And being behind now by 2-1 simply sent Toronto to the recovery room, the Game Three win allowing the embattled Raptors to regain momentum in the NBA bubble at the Walt Disney complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
And who would have thought Anunoby would convert that Hail Mary shot—he with credentials as inferior as the academic records of high school dropout Snowden, the Wikileaks whistle blower?
Going to yesterday’s Game Three, OG, short for the London-born Ogugua of Nigerian descent, had a forgettable 1.6 clip per game from three-point country.
When OG received the pass launching the three, only half a second was left in the game, Boston leading 103-101.
No way Toronto could have pulled it out of the fire. And not OG doing it.
But, OMG, OG did it!
Before his miracle shot, only the firm believers of the saying, “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings,” stood by OG.
And, like it or not, Anunoby’s mother must have been the only soul in this planet at that moment who believed her son would nail it.
How OG, 23, did it will be studied in basketball labs years from now.
With time perishing, OG’s play was reduced to a catch-and-shoot show. Basic.
But if OG’s triple was something that makes instant heroes, the 60-foot inbound pass to OG by Kyle Lowry was the stuff that manufactures magic, period.
If a heave as precise as Lowry’s landing perfectly at OG’s hands, is deemed as witchcraft, I’ll take that anytime.
The ball left the 6-foot-7 OG’s fingertips with .02 fraction of a second left, the spheroid sailing high with the shot-clock at 0.0. Swoosh!
But to Coach Dayong, Boston blinked. That’s why it lost.
“Why did the Celtics go zone defense with practically no time left?” he said. “They goofed big time.”
A good point.