The Toronto Raptors took care of business in Game 4 on the road. Now, they’ll have the opportunity to finish the Magic off at home. What did we learn from the game?
The Toronto Raptors have never held a 3-1 series lead. Well, they hadn’t, until now. This is the most talented team in franchise history. So far this postseason, they’re proving it.
Game 4 was a battle for a little while. The Orlando Magic came out on fire, hitting a multitude of jumpers. Orlando started 6-6 from the field and took an early eight-point lead.
At that moment, the Raptors started to turn things around. By the end of the first quarter, Toronto took the lead. At the half, that lead grew all the way to 16.
The Magic made a few mini-runs at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarter, but the game was never within single-digits or within question. The Toronto Raptors pulled away 107-85.
So what did we learn from this game? Here are my three big takeaways:
Return of the bench
The bench is back folks! Or, at least it was for this game. Norman Powell had a monster 16-point performance on 7-9 shooting, Serge Ibaka put together his first solid performance of the series — scoring 13 points on 5-6 shooting and making a couple of stellar defensive plays –, and Fred VanVleet….. played better than the first three games at least.
The bench will be critical for the Raptors moving through the rest of the playoffs. They’re talented enough to handle giving up leads to teams like the Orlando Magic. They won’t be afforded such luxuries in the upcoming rounds.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway is how aggressive both Powell and Ibaka were in this game. Ibaka cleaned up the offensive glass, played great defensively, and even erased Aaron Gordon at the rim at one point. Norman Powell attacked the hoop rather than settling for jumpers.
Toronto will need games like this from the bench moving forward. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first flash-in-the-pan performance we’ve seen from this unit.
Turnovers
Turnovers have plagued the Toronto Raptors all season, particularly in the second half of the year. After the trade deadline, the Raptors had one of the highest TOV% in the entire NBA.
So far this postseason, it hasn’t been an issue. Toronto has the fourth lowest TOV% among all playoff teams, behind only the Detroit Pistons (Milwaukee doesn’t force a lot of TOVs) and the slow-paced San Antonio Spurs and Denver Magic combination.
In the four games so far this series, the team who has won the turnover margin has won the game. Obviously, it’s not quite that simple, but there’s no denying the two appear to be at least tangentially related.
Needs to be five
Toronto needs to finish this series off in five. With all due respect to the Orlando Magic, Game 4 served as just another example that these two teams aren’t in the same league. When everything is clicking, the Raptors shouldn’t have trouble finishing the Magic off.
So end it. The Philadelphia 76ers are up 3-1, the Boston Celtics have already completed the sweep, the Milwaukee Bucks are up 3-0 and beating the Pistons by an average margin of 200 points per game. It’s time for the Raptors to finish the Magic off. Game 5. No later.