Jamal Collier
Multiple Authors
TORONTO — RJ Barrett mentioned he had hassle sleeping the evening earlier than Thursday’s Game 3. A Toronto native, he mentioned he was excited occupied with taking part in his first residence playoff sport and anticipating the duty at hand for the Raptors after dropping the primary two video games of the sequence.
Barrett responded, as he and Scottie Barnes each scored 33 factors to steer the Raptors to a 126-104 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The 33 factors had been a profession playoff excessive for each gamers.
“A night like tonight was good to build some confidence and just show that we’re here,” Barrett mentioned after the sport. “We’re in this series. When we play like how we did today, everybody together, everybody’s playing hard, locked in on the game plan, we can make some noise.”
Cleveland leads the sequence 2-1, with Game 4 on Sunday afternoon in Toronto, however the Raptors put collectively their greatest efficiency of the sequence in Game 3.
They shot 61% (14-of-23) from 3 and bought key contributions from the bench; Collin Murray-Boyles set a workforce rookie report with 22 factors as a reserve and Jamison Battle hit 4 3s after not showing in the primary two video games of the sequence.
But the Raptors had been carried by the performances of Barrett, who went 6-of-8 from 3, and Barnes, who added 11 assists and 5 rebounds. They turned the third Raptors duo to each score 30 factors in a playoff sport, becoming a member of Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry through the 2019 playoff run and Lowry and DeMar DeRozan in 2016.
“We started off the day really positive, hungry, really wanting to win,” Barnes mentioned. “We want to do whatever it takes. … We knew we needed everybody for this win. You’ve seen some big performances from everybody. So it just goes to show how resilient, how bad we wanted it.”
In Game 2, the Cavaliers’ trio of Donovan Mitchell, James Harden and Evan Mobley each scored no less than 25 factors, however the Raptors held each of them beneath that mark Thursday. Mitchell scored 15 on 7-of-16 capturing, Harden had 18 factors on 5-of-13 capturing with eight turnovers, and Mobley had 15 factors on 4-of-13 capturing.
Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic acknowledged his workforce’s defensive self-discipline for Cleveland’s poor capturing evening but additionally credited Barnes for stepping as much as defend Harden and Mitchell.
“He did everything for us tonight,” Rajakovic mentioned.
Barnes added: “Those guys are really talented scorers. They can score in so many different ways by attacking, step-backs, playing in ISOs, driving to the rim, getting foul calls. You just got to try to be physical, show bodies. Really all you can try to do and just try to play super hard. And I think our guys did a great job of helping each other.”
The score was tied at halftime, and the Raptors had solely a two-point benefit going into the fourth quarter. But Toronto closed the sport by outscoring Cleveland 43-23 in the fourth quarter, punctuating a victory for a raucous residence crowd.
“That was great,” Barrett mentioned. “Energy in the building was crazy. Definitely helped us out a lot, and we just played hard, man. We played hard. That’s the result.”
