If being at home matters so much for the game of Raptors, the Eastern Conference Finals’ Game 4 and 6 (if necessary) will still be in Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
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That’s exactly what happened, because DeRozan put 32 points, five rebounds and four assists on the board to lift his team to the crucial win.
In Toronto, where “We The North” is a Raptors’ rallying cry, a sellout crowd dressed in red and white T-shirts helped their team improve to 7-2 at home in these playoffs. The Cavaliers were trying to become the third team in National Basketball Association history to start 11-0 or better in the playoffs (2001 Lakers and 1989 Lakers). So far if you’ve been watching the Cleveland Cavaliers live stream or the Toronto Raptors live stream, then you may be pleased or disappointed (depending on which team you’re rooting for) to know that the Cleveland Cavaliers have won both games so far against the Toronto Raptors.
The Cavs lead the series, 2-0, and remained unbeaten in the postseason with Thursday’s 108-89 win.
The Raptors missed eight straight shots in the middle of an ugly fourth quarter to allow the Cavs to pull within eight points, but Biyombo’s three straight buckets had them back up by 14 with 3:38 to play. The Cavaliers had just suffered a fourth-quarter collapse to the reeling Chicago Bulls in the waning days of the season, ESPN noted, and LeBron was asked if his team was ready for the rigors of 20 to 25 games in the playoffs. The double-digit deficit proved lethal, they would never make it up. The over/under total for the game has been set at 198.5 points. They beat us two games.
It was DeRozan’s seventh career playoff game with at least 30 points, the most in Raptors franchise history.
DeMarre Carroll said they’re sticking behind “the head of our team”.
“We’ve got to go out (Saturday) night and hold down our fort”, DeMar DeRozan of the Raptors said.
If they win in Toronto – where they lost two of their three regular-season meetings against the Raptors – the Cavaliers will extend their playoff winning streak to 11 games. “If it was Toronto, we’re just trying to take it a game at a time, and whoever it is in front of us, that’s who we have to go to war against”. He went nose-to-nose with Tristan Thompson in the first half, prompting Cory Joseph, Thompson’s childhood friend, to step in. “They were able to bust the game open”.
With a Raptors playoff-record 26 rebounds, Bismack Biyombo was like a Hoover under the basket. Exhausted and battered, it was one of the few times on this night Irving was left all alone.
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“I don’t see the difference between the way I get fouled on offensive rebounds and the (flagrant) foul I committed”, Biyombo said. Does Drake still fly back for Game 4? They easily could have folded after the way they were humiliated in the first two games in Cleveland, but they played with pride and desperation to extend the series to at least five games. It may be true that J.R. Smith has embraced the role of defending the opponents’ top perimeter scorer, but that doesn’t mean he’s anything like Kawhi Leonard.
