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While the Eastern Conference remains until further notice the junior circuit of the NBA, the positive impact of LeBron James' incursion on the other coast is that, for the first time to who-know- how-long (OK, about eight seasons), is a race that feels wide open. There is a handful of teams with some real possibility of winning the East. Two of them played Friday night as the Celtics and Raptors met in Toronto. The Raptors retired late and had a final score of 113-101. The match was tighter than that and it was becoming clearer as the night progressed that this match was worth taking into account.
After seeing the Celtics handle the promising 76ers earlier in the week, Boston already had some idea of what Boston would look like in the face of good competition. Toronto took the opportunity to make a statement at home. Kyle Lowry scored two goals before scoring, then scored three points in the next game, which eclipsed the game. Kawhi Leonard has improved over the course of the evening, Serge Ibaka has looked straight into the eyes and all this has struck a Boston team that can boast of having more talent for the book than any other player in the league, with the exception of Golden State. Neither team was perfect, but the pace of play quickly accelerated and spawned a captivating adventure from top to bottom.
This is the fourth day of the season and we do not have time to name anyone, but it is encouraging to see two teams that have been widely identified as potential finalists for the conference give us decisive strengths from the beginning. They were the two best teams in the East of the regular season in the East of last year, and both seem to have improved during the off season, which is good news for the state. of the league. The up and down nature of the game was hypnotic for the expanses, both teams teeming with versatile and skilled talents who would play anywhere in the league. On the first pass, the frenetic energy of the game made the treatment difficult in real time, but there was no need to be wrong about the amount of talent on the ground or the quality of the game. It was a lot to sharpen the palate.
Between Kyrie Irving and Terry Rozier in a duel with Lowry and Fred Van Vleet, Al Horford arguing with Ibaka or Leonard enveloping Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward at different times of the night, there is just a lot to eat. These are two notorious teams to launch wave after wave their opponents. Make them face to face, and, well, there's probably a better aquatic metaphor to say how fun this game was, when I'm just missing out here. Long live quality basketball and what would be a fascinating game of seven games in May. Of course, do not brew it.
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