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Kevin Love is fine, but healthy might not describe the Cleveland Cavaliers after a rough road trip left them to return to Ohio tied in the Eastern Conference finals with the Toronto Raptors. Love had 13 points and was 5 of 23 from the field at Toronto in surprising losses in Games 3 and 4 to the Raptors, who won both games on their home court. He said he stepped on an official's foot and tweaked a knee.
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Love sat on the Cavaliers' bench most of the second half on Monday night.
"More so the knee (than the ankle hurting) ... but nothing that will prevent me from playing," Love said.
There is no underselling the magnitude of the fifth game in a series tied 2-2. According to NBA Stats, teams that win the fifth game in such scenarios wind up taking the series more than 78 percent of the time.
Raptors coach Dwane Casey said the biggest difference on Monday in his own team was confidence.
"I think just understanding where we could get shots," he said. "How we could get stops. I thought we protected the paint better. This team is a great scoring team, so I think that you've got to have balance of what you want to take away and you've got to pick your poison."
In winning their second consecutive game, the Raptors led by as many as 18 points during the second quarter and were ahead by 16 at halftime before Cleveland's perimeter barrage found traction.
The Cavs owned the Raptors in Cleveland in the first two games of the series with uncanny outside shooting. Now the challenge for Toronto is finding a way to hold up in Cleveland, though the Raptors are assured at least one more home game on Friday in Game 6.
"They played well the first two games and they protected home," Lowry said. "Now we've protected home."
James led Cleveland with 29 points and grabbed nine rebounds in Game 4. But after winning 10 consecutive games to start the playoffs, the Cavaliers are navigating the type of adversity that James said would be good for Love and point guard Kyrie Irving.
"We've got to come out and hit first and be more aggressive and bring a physicality from the start of the game, not wait until we get down 16, 18 points to finally start playing with that aggressiveness," Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said Tuesday. "I think our guys are ready. We had a great film session today. We see what we need to do, and we're ready and prepared to do it."
Casey said the goal in Game 5 is to keep the Cavaliers within striking distance. Laughers broke out in Game 1 -- when Lowry spent much of the second half on the bench -- and Game 2.
"What we've got to do is cut down on the runs," Casey said. "The games that we lost there, there were probably three- or four-minute segments, portions of the game that really did us in in both games.
"If we can sustain our defense against their runs and not let them blow it open in those three- or four-minute segments -- and we've got to respond offensively. That's what we did not do when they went on their offensive run in Cleveland. So ... hopefully we've figured it out."
