KEY POINTS

  • The Boston Celtics took a 2-0 series lead against the Toronto Raptors after a comeback victory in Game 2
  • Nick Nurse blasted how the game was called, saying the officials "took good care" of Jayson Tatum
  • Marcus Smart came through the clutch for the Celtics to deliver the win

Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse was not pleased with how Game 2 was officiated on Tuesday as his team fell to a 0-2 hole against the Boston Celtics.

The reigning NBA Coach of the Year was livid particularly on the disparity of calls that allowed Celtics star Jayson Tatum to rack up points by making heaps of trips to the charity stripe.

“The only frustrating part about it is this: (Tatum) shoots 14 free throws, which is much as the whole team shoots. They took very good care of him tonight,” said Nurse, who saw his team build an eight-point cushion in the payoff period, only to waste it down the stretch.

Tatum finished the game with 34 points as he took advantage of his freebies by going perfect from the line. He also added eight boards and six assists to spearhead the 102-99 come from behind win.

Nurse’s case on free-throw attempts disparity could be backed by stats as early as after the first half of the game wherein the Celtics were sent to the line nine times against none for the Raptors.

The defending champions finished the game with 19 free-throw attempts, making 16 of them. The Celtics, on the other hand, made 23 of their 25 tries.

"I mean we're pretty pissed right now we're down 0-2, but you know we have to go back and look at the film and understand what we've done wrong and what we can do better," Raptors All-Star guard Kyle Lowry said.

"This is not a situation, we'd like to be in but you know it's not a normal situation in the playoffs where we last two home games. We just lost two games. We got a chance to get enough to get one game. That's all got to do is get one game and take one day, one game at a time and know that the Celtics have been playing extremely well so we got to find a way to, you know, get our ourselves going."

Tatum may have taken the offensive cudgels for the Celtics all game, but it was Marcus Smart who turned things around for the team after hitting five straight three-pointers in the deciding frame that erased an eight-point deficit en route to completing the comeback win.

Smart finished the game with 19 points in 38 minutes.

"I ain't never met nobody like Smart," Tatum said. "He is one of a kind.”

Nurse and the Raptors will look to avoid a 0-3 hole in Game 3 on Thursday.