Get ready for Tuesday’s playoff action with five key stats to know about each matchup. The Celtics and Raptors meet in Game 2 of the Conference Semifinals at 5:30 ET on ESPN. Then comes the first Game 7 of the 2020 Playoffs as the Jazz and Nuggets square off at 8:30 ET on ABC.
Game 2: Boston Celtics vs. Toronto Raptors (BOS Leads 1-0), 5:30 ET, ESPN
- The Celtics shot 17-39 from beyond the arc in their Game 1 win, including 10-15 from the corners. In the 2019-20 regular season, Toronto allowed the most corner 3-pointers made (4.6 per game) while Boston hit 38.5% of their corner 3-pointer attempts.
- Kyle Lowry defended Jayson Tatum for a team-high 4:57 of matchup time in Game 1. Lowry held Tatum to 2 points on 1-2 shooting and force 2 turnovers. During the regular season, no player defended Tatum more than Lowry (17:04) and Lowry held Tatum to 8 total points on 37.5% FG and 28.6% 3P.
- Kemba Walker dished out a playoff career-high 10 assists in Boston’s Game 1 win. Between the regular season and playoffs, the Celtics are now 3-0 when Walker reaches double-figure assists.
- After averaging 25.3 points on 54.0% FG, 54.8% 3P shooting in Toronto’s first three playoff games, Fred VanVleet has just 20 combined points in the last two games, while shooting 23.8% FG and 28.6% 3P. VanVleet did record a game-high 7 deflections as he leads all players in the playoffs at 3.8 per game.
- The Celtics (44.3%) and Raptors (48.2%) entered this series having allowed the two lowest effective field goal percentages in the first round. In Game 1, the Celtics held the Raptors to 42.9 eFG%, while the Raptors allowed the Celtics to shoot 57.2 eFG%.
Game 7: Utah Jazz vs. Denver Nuggets (Series Tied 3-3), 8:30 ET, ABC
- In his four NBA seasons, Jamal Murray has made at least 17 shots in four games; three of those four performances have come in the last three games of this series.
- Since the 1984 Playoffs, Jamal Murray is just the fourth player to score at least 40 points in three straight playoffs games and the first to do since Allen Iverson in 2001. Murray’s 47.3 PPG average is the highest of those six streaks.
- While not consecutive like Jamal Murray, Donovan Mitchell also has three 40-point games, including two 50-point games, in this series. Mitchell leads all players in the 2020 Playoffs in scoring (38.7 PPG) and usage rate (37.4%).
- Donovan Mitchell has made 24 pull-up 3-pointers in this series, which is the most in a playoff series since player tracking data was first introduced in 2013-14. Jamal Murray’s 23 pull-up 3-pointers made is tied for second. Mitchell is shooting 53.3% on pull-up 3s in the series, while Murray is connecting at 60.5%.
- In 15 minutes of clutch play in this series (score within five points in final five minutes), Jamal Murray has scored 32 points on 12-17 (70.6%) shooting from the field and 7-8 (87.5%) from beyond the arc. The Nuggets have outscored the Jazz by 14 points in those 15 clutch minutes.
