With a little more than seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, after erasing what was once an 18-point deficit, James barreled to the basket for a layup to give the Cavaliers their first lead of the game, 84-83.
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Nobody. In the end, Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and the rest of the Raptors were able to hang onto the lead and finish off the Cavs, 105-99, to tie the ECF at 2-2. “We had a chance to win the ballgame but we can’t dig ourselves a hole like we did in the first half”. They’ll get at least one more game in Toronto, where they’ve been a tough out all year. Back in Game 3, both came out firing from all cylinders.
Toronto began by making the Cavs shooters shoot blanks from long distance early on.
He knows how it feels to have his 2011 Miami team have a 2-1 lead in the Finals – then lose three in a row to underdog Dallas. Lowry and company outscored the Cavs 30-19 during the second quarter.
Love posted a double-double in each of the Cavaliers’ first eight playoff games, capped by a 27-point, 13-rebound gem in the Hawks clincher. But, things got really interesting in the fourth quarter. DeRozan got horse-collared on a break by J.R. Smith, Kevin Love apparently hurt himself by rolling his ankle on the ref, Lowry stole the ball late from LeBron and drew the foul as James charged into his behind, Channing Frye looked like he’d never miss, the Raptors nearly rolled out a returning Jonas Valanciunas, Drake was up and cheering like a maniac, Chuck Swirsky called for the salami and cheese in the first half, and the Raptors proved a host of doubters wrong. However, Dwane Casey and his wards wouldn’t allow another late comeback by the Cavs.
James was right, most people were already placing them in the NBA Finals.
But, Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, who had 32 points, and centre Bismack Biyombo, with 14 rebounds and three blocks, closed out the game.
LeBron James played the all 24 minutes of the second half, 45 in total, and once again came up big scoring a team-high 29 points, grabbing 9 rebounds and dishing out six assists.
Kyrie Irving contributed 26 points for the Cavs, while Kevin Love was four-from-14 from the field in his 10-point haul. The Cavs rolled out a odd LeBron-Kyrie-Dellavedova-Frye-Jefferson lineup for much of the quarter (Kevin Love didn’t play in the fourth), and it gave them enough spacing to rip the Raptors for most of the period. The Thunder don’t want to have a 2-2 series with two games left at Oracle, where it will be hard to win again. This is what happens when a team like Cleveland relies too heavily on the three-point shot.
Few picked the Raptors to steal more than a token win against the Cavs, who roared red-hot into the conference finals having swept Detroit and Atlanta. His teams haven’t lost an Eastern Conference series since 2010.
Game 5 is Wednesday in Cleveland, then the series returns to Toronto for Game 6 on Friday.
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The key to the small ball lineup for the Thunder is the same that has driven the success of the Warriors’ small ball for the past two seasons – they still played great defense. Otherwise, their second-straight trip to the NBA Finals would be put in jeopardy. Lowry also followed with two more buckets and helped Toronto take a 15-point lead into a timeout with just under four minutes left in the third. All of a sudden, the Cavs are challenged.
