Toronto Raptors at Boston Celtics

OG for 3: Anunoby beats buzzer to lift Raptors over Celtics

OG Anunoby delivered.

Anunoby caught a cross-court pass that Kyle Lowry threaded over everybody else on the floor and hit a 3-pointer as time expired, giving the Raptors a 104-103 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Thursday night.

"Someone hit me in the nose," Anunoby said. "It's cool."

The Celtics took a two-point lead when Kemba Walker found Daniel Theis for a dunk with a half-second left.

"The pass was nothing," Lowry said. "OG made the shot. All the credit goes to the shot, man. That's a tough shot. Give OG that credit. The pass was just to get it to a guy like OG. It's OG's moment, man. That's a great moment for that kid."

Lowry played virtually the whole way, finishing with 31 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Fred VanVleet scored 25 points, Pascal Siakam had 16 and Anunoby 12.

Walker scored 29 points for Boston, which lost for the first time in seven playoff games. Jaylen Brown had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Jayson Tatum finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Celtics.

"It hurts and stings to lose," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "But we'll just get back to it and get ready for Saturday."

Marc Gasol made a layup with 5:57 left for a four-point lead; the Celtics responded with the next eight points, going up 99-95 on a dunk by Brown with 3:02 remaining.

Lowry got a pair of layups, both drawing Toronto within two. The Raptors had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead in the final half-minute, VanVleet getting an acrobatic layup to drop with 21.5 seconds left and knotting it at 101.

Theis' score put Toronto on the brink. Anunoby rescued the champs.

"Much credit to those guys," Walker said. "That was a hell of a shot."

"We knew they wouldn't quit," Walker said.

He was right.

In the final moment, the Raptors found a way.

"I'm not sure that that doesn't rank with our gutsiest performances," Nurse said.

TIP-INS

Raptors: Lowry sat for a 1:31 stretch of the first quarter. He returned late in that period and played the final 37 minutes, 29 seconds. ... Nurse tied Dwane Casey for the franchise postseason wins lead, with 21.

Celtics: Walker's 17 first-quarter points were a career-best for any postseason quarter. He had 14 for Charlotte in the fourth quarter against Miami on April 29, 2016. ... Robert Williams's first shot attempt of the night was blocked by Serge Ibaka with 8:19 left in the first half, significant because Williams had been 10 for 10 in the series to that point.

ANOTHER ONE

It was the fifth consecutive playoff game to go to the final second. Tuesday saw Boston win when VanVleet missed a 3-pointer for the tie at the buzzer, followed by Mike Conley missing as time expired in Denver's Game 7 win over Utah. On Wednesday, Jimmy Butler hit a game-ending free throw in Miami's win over Milwaukee and Houston denied Oklahoma City on the last play of their Game 7. And Thursday was Anunoby's turn.

NURSE ON NASH

UP NEXT

Game 4 is Saturday.

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Regular Season Series

BOS wins series 3-1