Title: 10 reasons for optimism as Raptors try to fight back from 0-2 against Celtics
Date: September 3, 2020
Original Source: The Athletic
Synopsis: In my latest for The Athletic Toronto, I wrote about some reasons for optimism the Raptors have despite being down 2-0 to the Celtics.
A blowout loss and a nail-biter loss. It took all of two games for the Toronto Raptors to experience defeat at both ends of the spectrum against the Boston Celtics. It naturally opens up the timeless debate of whether it’s better to be close and fail or never be close at all, and whether those differences even matter.
After all, when it comes to playoff games, there is win and lose, no almost.
Having said that, Brian O’Conner wasn’t racing Dom Toretto in a best-of-seven series where he could make adjustments between games. If he was, you have to think he would have reviewed the tape and tweaked his plan, ditching the granny shifting in favour of double-clutching and better utilizing his NOS. Nick Nurse, who has been fairly conservative by his standards so far in the series, almost surely has some tweaks from here.
You’ve had four days to stew in negativity. It’s time to inject a little bit of optimism. As they say, it’s best to live life a quarter-series — or one win — at a time.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 