Defending champion Toronto Raptors back in line

The defending champion Toronto Raptors knew what they had to do to keep the Boston Celtics from one win that could eliminate them from them from the National Basketball Association playoffs.

After losing the first two games in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference semifinals, Toronto was the winner in game three and again Saturday night, 100-93 to even the series at two games apiece at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista. Fla., with the key game five to be player Monday.

It was a tight game until the Raptors took a 81-73 lead after three quarters. From there, Toronto designed its defense to limit the potent outside shots employed by the 4th-seeded Celts, and also got a stellar effort from former New Mexico State University player Pascal Sinkam as he scored the team-high 23 points and shared the team-best 11 rebounds, both with Kyle Lowry, who handed out the most assists, seven.

In the Western Conference game two finals, the 3rd-seeded Denver Nuggets bounced back from an resounding opening game setback, 110-101. If Denver is the deserving underdog, it’s now all even at a game each, and Monday will be a game three.

Jamal Murray. the leading Nugget scorer, came away with the game-high 27 points. His teammate, Nokola Jokic, made good on 6-of-8 tries from the floor to total 26 points and bring down a game-best 18 boards. Murray also led the way in assists with six.

Denver began like a rested team after losing game one the night after its game seven with the Utah Jazz, who had held a 3-1 lead in the series. It was a commanding 44-25 advantage after one quarter and trimmed slightly to 72-56 at halftime. After three quarters,it was the Nuggets up 89-77 with Murray and Jokic combining for 15 of the points in that quarter.

For the Clippers, leading player KawhiLeonard had an under-average 13 points while grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out the game-high eight assists. Paul George was their leading scorer with 22 points,Jamychal Green had the most rebounds, 11. It was a splendid turnaround for Denver as it evened things with the Clippers.

Same with Toronto answering back to even its series at 2-2.

On tonight’s schedule, the Miami Heat hold a 3-0 series lead over the top overall seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference stunner. In the Western Conference semis, it’s the Houston Rockets meeting up with the No.1-seeded Los Angeles Lakers after coming up with the opening triumph.