The Raptors retreated home, where more than 2,000 fans waited patiently in lines that wrapped around the Air Canada Centre just to watch the game outside in the courtyard known as Jurassic Park.
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“We learned from the first two games”, DeRozan said.
If the Raptors want to make this a competitive series, they’re going to need Lowry to stay on the court as much as possible and shake off his struggles, or else they’ll be headed home quickly.
But over the final 3:25 of the first half, the Raptors let the game slip from their grasp.
Much of that was thanks to the inside domination of Democratic Republic of Congo center Biyombo, who set a club playoff record for rebounds in a game and added seven points and four blocked shots.
The Raptors’ defense was important. Lowry has had a rough go of it thus far, finishing with just 10 points on Thursday and shooting just 8 of 28 from the field, including 1-for-15 from 3-point range. I don’t think that’s taking us out, just our mental mistakes that we’re making in certain parts of the game, and they’re taking advantage of.
The Warriors insist they’ll be ready to take on Steven Adams, Enes Kanter, Serge Ibaka and the rest of the Thunder in Game 3.
DeMar DeRozan had his mid-range jumper going again, but didn’t settle.
The Raptors believe the key to victory stemmed from the defensive end, though.
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“Sometimes it’s good to get kicked in the teeth”, Love said.
Lowry attracted some unwanted attention in Game 2 for heading to the locker room late in the second quarter, right around the time Cleveland was turning a tie game into a 14-point halftime lead.
The Raptors’ guards attacked those guys in transition and in the pick-and-roll on Saturday. This time, instead of Joseph, it was Jefferson who got the quick hook early in the period. They went into the break up 60-47.
Everybody was just being aggressive, not being tentative and trying to create for themselves and others. The series shifts to Oklahoma City for Game 3 tonight. While LeBron James has been his all-planet self thus far and has received plenty of help from Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, Casey grew exhausted of being asked to praise Cleveland’s Big Three.
The aggressiveness got the Raptors to the rim and opened things up elsewhere.
I’m not sure how many people could’ve foreseen the Cleveland Cavaliers losing Game 3 to the Toronto Raptors after the way the first two games went in Cleveland.
Give the Raptors and their coach, Dwane Casey, credit.
“I think he gets hit on nearly every rebound, put-back there is”, Casey said. He brought the Cavs back from 11 points in the second half with back-to-back three’s to cut the deficit to five to get as close as they would get.
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The key for the Raptors was keeping Cleveland out of the paint. He scored on Cleveland’s next possession, and while sitting on the bench during a subsequent timeout, he saluted applauding Cavs fans by pressing his fingers to his lips and touching his heart. For one night, they regained some momentum in a series that was so thoroughly lopsided.
