Game 6: Toronto Raptors vs. Boston Celtics (BOS Leads 3-2), 6:30 ET, ESPN
- Jaylen Brown had his best offensive game of the series in Game 5, scoring a game-high 27 points on 10-18 FG, 3-7 3P, 4-4 FT. During the regular season and playoffs, the Celtics have gone 15-0 when Brown scores at least 25 points.
- Monday’s game was the second wire-to-wire win in the series for Boston as both Games 1 and 5 featured 0 lead changes and 0 ties.
- Fred VanVleet (6.4 APG) and Kyle Lowry (7.0 APG) are both averaging 17.8 points created by assists in this series; ranked second and third among all players in the Conference Semifinals.
- The Celtics are holding the Raptors to 40.4% shooting from the field (4.7 percentage points below Toronto’s normal rate), 30.9% from three (7.2 percentage points below Toronto’s normal rate) and 54.0% from inside 6 feet (5.7 percentage points below Toronto’s normal rate). Those are the largest disparities forced of any team in the Conference Semifinals.
- The Celtics five-man lineup of Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Daniel Theis outscored the Raptors by 11 points in 17 minutes together in Game 5. In the first four games of the series, that lineup was outscored by 15 points in 103 minutes.
Game 4: LA Clippers vs. Denver Nuggets (LAC Leads 2-1), 9:00 ET, ESPN
- The Clippers outscored the Nuggets 30-12 on fast break points in Game 3. It was LA’s most fast break points of the playoffs and the second-highest total in all of 2019-20 (37 on Nov. 16 vs. ATL).
- Nikola Jokic scored a team-high 32 points in Game 3. In 5:45 of matchup time against Ivica Zubac, Jokic scored 13 points on 5-9 FG, 3-4 3P and had 1 assist and 3 turnovers. For the series, Jokic has 39 points on 15-28 FG, 5-8 3P, 4-4 FT in 17:20 of matchup time against Zubac.
- Kawhi Leonard had one of the highlight plays of the playoffs with his single-finger block of Jamal Murray’s dunk attempt with under 2 minutes to play in Game 3. Kawhi stuffed the stat sheet with 23 points, 14 boards, 6 assists and 2 blocks in Game 3; the last player to hit those marks in a playoff game was Kawhi Leonard last season with Toronto in the series clinching win over Milwaukee to send the Raptors to the NBA Finals.
- Paul George had his best offensive game of the series in Game 3, scoring 32 points on 12-18 FG, 5-7 3P, 3-3 FT and adding 4 assists. It was his second 30-point game of the playoffs (Clippers 2-0) after having nine such games during the regular season (Clippers 5-4).
- After averaging 31.7 points in the first round against Utah, Jamal Murray has been held to 17.7 points per game through the first three games against LA. In the playoffs, the Nuggets are 1-4 when Murray scores fewer than 20 points. Lou Williams (9:26), Patrick Beverley (8:05) and Landry Shamet (5:25) have spent the most time defending Murray in this series. Those three defenders have held Murray to 13 total points on 5-17 FG, 3-11 3P shooting, have allowed 0 free throw attempts and one assist, and forced 2 turnovers.
