Despite a furious second-half comeback that saw the Cleveland Cavaliers make up an 18-point deficit, the rally came up short in a 105-99 loss to the Toronto Raptors in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Air Canada Centre on Monday night.
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TORONTO – Since the Raptors earned the right to play the Cavaliers in the Eastern finals, LeBron James has given them their due.
The Cavaliers will host the Raptors for Game 5 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Valanciunas could see the court for brief spurts later in the series, but since he’s still at less than full strength, Biyombo appears poised to see the lion’s share of the minutes at center.
“To try to put Kevin back in with four minutes to go in the fourth quarter in a hostile game, hostile environment, it’s not fair to him”, Lue said.
It was a simple play well executed but it was done after thinking a step or two ahead and turned out to be the dagger of the game.
A long 3 by Irving made it 101-99 with 2:00 left, but DeRozan answered with a driving bank shot at 1:33.
The Cavaliers had another slow start in this game.
However, the Cavs rallied superbly through LeBron James, who finished with 29 points, and Kyrie Irving to haul themselves back into the contest.
However, as they’ve been known to do in the past, Toronto lost that lead only to get it back in crunch time. “I thought Channing came in and gave us a great lift”. Meanwhile, Toronto was able to convert a number of second-chance opportunities to put the game away.
“We can take the bad with the good any day”, DeRozan added. Lowry tied the game on a layup and made the free throw to tie the game.
Cleveland only trailed 27-24 at the end of the first quarter, primarily thanks to a 10-2 run that began with just under six minutes left in the period. Fueled by frequent and ferocious drives to the rim, Toronto shot 19 free throws in the second half, compared to just two for the perimeter-happy Cavs. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the last time a team led by at least 15 at halftime in a conference finals without a free throw attempt was Milwaukee in 2001 versus Philadelphia.
This insane run – the first playoff game against IN was April 16, for goodness sakes, has been all consuming.
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The Raptors kept up a torrid pace in the second, and when Lowry scored on a step-back jumper with 32 seconds to play in the half, the bucket boosted Toronto’s advantage to 18 points. Booth says, “the key to the series is going to be the first team that wins on the road, that’s going to be a huge win for them”.
