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Toronto Raptors star Kawhi Leonard improving; Kyle Lowry's thumb 'not great'

By Connor Grott
Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry suffered a thumb injury against the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. File Photo by Nicole Sweet/UPI
Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry suffered a thumb injury against the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. File Photo by Nicole Sweet/UPI | License Photo

May 23 (UPI) -- Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse told reporters in a conference call that Kawhi Leonard's undisclosed leg injury is improving, but Kyle Lowry's thumb injury is becoming increasingly problematic.

Leonard has had an occasional limp during Games 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference finals. He appeared to originally suffer the leg injury after finishing a layup in the first half of the Raptors' Game 3 win.

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Nurse said his star forward will be ready for Thursday night's Game 5 at Fiserv Forum.

"He's feeling good," Nurse said Wednesday. "No concerns at this point. He's good."

The Raptors coach didn't say the same for Lowry, who has been playing through a thumb injury on his left (non-shooting) hand. He sustained the ailment against the Philadelphia 76ers in the conference semifinals.

Lowry, who has been wearing a specially designed oven mitt to speed the healing process, has been playing through increasing levels of pain, according to Nurse.

"Kyle's hand is not great," Nurse said. "You know, he's -- it's hurt and it's sore and it causes him a lot of pain. But he seems to be able to manage it through the game and do what he can do. He's obviously scoring and playing great on top of the other things he always does, and we're really [seeing] a heck of a lot of toughness and again, the spirit that he just wants to be out there and help his team any way he can."

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Lowry had a team-high 25 points with six assists and five rebounds in Toronto's 120-102 win in Game 4. He scored 12 points in the first quarter to help the Raptors secure a quick lead.

Leonard, who showed signs of fatigue during Game 4 after playing 52 minutes in the Raptors' double overtime win in the third game of the series, had 19 points, seven rebounds, four steals and two blocks.

"I think you just don't know how people are going to react," Nurse said. "I think kind of the main narrative is that Kawhi was super tired and extra minutes and all those kind of things. I think we kind of had that in the back of our minds, but you know, you just don't know how guys are going to react when the ball goes up and their adrenaline kicks up."

Game 5 tips off at 8:30 p.m. ET at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. The series is tied 2-2.

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