Title: Deep Dive Series Preview: How the Raptors and Celtics match up
Date: August 25, 2020
Original Source: The Athletic
Synopsis: In my latest for The Athletic Toronto, I went deep breaking down the Raptors-Celtics second-round series with analytics, rotations, matchups, shot spectrums, and more.
In the words of a good friend of Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse, it’s been years in the making. Or, in the words of Boston’s most notable musical export, the time is now.
The decision of who to pick between the Raptors and Celtics is a much tougher one than between Arkells and John Cena. Bookmakers got out early with the Raptors as slight -125 favourites, an implied win probability of about 55.6 percent. Jacob Goldstein‘s model has the Raptors at 62 percent, while FiveThirtyEight flips things with a 55-percent probability for the Celtics. In case you’re not sharp on your probabilities, this series projects to be very close, and with some injury uncertainty for a star player and a season-series that runs at least a little counter to full-season performances, it’s anyone’s guess.
Well, it’s your guess. I am forcing you. Not until the end of this piece, though.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 