All rounds are best-of-seven series; the team that has four wins advances to the next round.
After holding the Cavaliers to 49 points in the first half, Toronto’s defence fell apart in the fourth as they gave up 36 points to Cleveland on a ridiculous 79 percent from the floor and 80 percent (4-for-5) from beyond the arc. Tucker addresses the media following Toronto's Game 3 loss against Cleveland on Friday night. Though Toronto shot just 46 percent in comparison — and 0-for-6 from the 3-point line — they trailed the Cavaliers by just four points after the opening 12 minutes. The season-leaders in frequency since 2017-18 were the Los Angeles Clippers (16.4 percent) in 2018-19 and the New York Knicks this year (14.1 percent). The Raptors moved the ball well, assisting on seven of 11 field goals, with Serge Ibaka, Jonas Valanciunas and DeMar DeRozan each scoring eight points. If you make a request through They advanced to the semifinals where they faced the Cleveland Cavaliers once again, the team that had eliminated them in the past two NBA playoffs. Cleveland made up for their shooting woes by connecting on 4-of-8 3-pointers while the Raptors continued to be scoreless from deep, going 0-for-3 from beyond the arc. In comparison, the Cavaliers went cold from the floor, shooting 32 percent as they were held to 21 points in the quarter. After sticking with the Cavs through the back-and-forth quarter, Toronto gave up back-to-back 3-pointers from Kyle Korver to go into the fourth quarter trailing by two, 79-77.Things went downhill quickly for Toronto in the final quarter as the team tried to give DeMar DeRozan and Cory Joseph a quick breather for the first couple of minutes of the fourth. Lowry sustained a sprained ankle in the second half of Game 2 in Cleveland. The Cavaliers were led by 10 points from LeBron James, while DeMar DeRozan was brilliant for Toronto. The Warriors set the record for the longest playoff winning streak (15) and the best record (16–1) in NBA playoff history. If two teams with the same record meet in a round, standard tiebreaker rules are used. Like Toronto’s first-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks, Casey decided to insert Norman Powell into the starting lineup in place of Jonas Valanciunas, but he also elected to make another adjustment, starting Patrick Patterson in place of DeMarre Carroll. Game 4 will be in Toronto on Sunday afternoon.Shortly before game time the Raptors starting lineup was revealed and head coach Dwane Casey decided to switch things up. Game 4 will be played on Sunday on the Air Canada Centre floor at 3:30 P.M. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Within each conference, the eight teams with the most wins qualify for the playoffs.
This was the eighth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Thunder/SuperSonics winning six of the first seven meetings.