With the Eastern Conference Finals tied at two games apiece, the Toronto Raptors and Cleveland Cavaliers clash in a pivotal Game 5 on Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Raptors stunned many on Monday night in coming back from a two-game deficit in the series, hanging with the number one seed in the East and defeating the Cavaliers in their second straight game at Air Canada Centre, 105-99. Both DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, both of whom endured shooting slumps early on in the postseason, scored 30+ points each for the first time in a playoff match-up.
Lowry finished the night with 35 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, shooting 14 of 20 from the field and 4 of 7 from downtown. DeRozan added 32 points, 3 boards and 3 assists, going 14 of 23 from field goal range and 4 of 4 from the foul line. Bismack Biyombo, who has been a boon for Toronto in lieu of injured Jonas Valanciunas, had another monster night off the boards, hauling in 14 rebounds and contributing 4 blocks.
Head Coach Dwane Casey has gone on record stating the he hopes to get Valanciunas back on the court in some capacity in Game 5. The Raptors have now played a league-leading 10 Playoff games on home court, where they will return for Game 6 on Friday night.
Cleveland can take some solace in the fact that they’ve lost only eight games at home all season, including during the postseason, where they were rolling with a 10-0 record before heading north of the border on the weekend.
Monday’s loss came despite a team-leading 29 points from LeBron James, who added 9 rebounds, 6 dimes and a pair of steals. Kyrie Irving dropped 26 points, facilitating 6 assists while shooting 11 of 21 from the paint and 3 of 8 from long range. Channing Frye came off the bench to put up 12 points, including 4 three-pointers in the fourth quarter that the Raptors were almost unable to recover from.
The Cavs unit travelled to the charity stripe only nine times during the contest, making all but one attempt. The team will need to find their rhythm from deep in short order, as they finished Game 4 with a 31.7% shooting average from beyond the arc, in contrast to their second-best 46.3% through the postseason.
