Raptors bury Celtics from 3-point range to win Game 4 and tie series 2-2

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Figuring out how the Toronto Raptors defeated the Boston Celtics 100-93 in Game 4 on Saturday was easy.

Just look at the 3-point shooting.

Toronto outscored Boston 51-21 on 3-pointers, with the Raptors making 17-of-44 (38.6%) and the Celtics making 7-of-35 (20%).

"I was extremely happy," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "We made a lot of them. We had a whole bunch more go in and out. They were very, very good looks. The analytics guys will tell you this stuff balances out over time. When some of them are going in, it seems like the looks are a lot better. I have to watch the tape. I felt to me like they were a little better tonight than they’ve been."

All-Star Kyle Lowry, who was one of three Raptors to play at least 44 minutes, made two free throws putting the Raptors ahead 98-87 with 2:20 left in the fourth, and Boston just didn’t enough time remaining to complete a comeback.

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From Boston up 2-0 to now tied 2-2, the series has been distilled to a best-of-3 in the Eastern Conference semifinals between two well-coached, hard-playing, talented teams. Game 5 is Monday (6:30 p.m. ET, TNT).

For the second consecutive season, the defending champion Raptors fell behind 2-0 in a series only to tie it. Last year, it happened against Milwaukee in the conference finals, and the Raptors won the series.

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"Our guys are used to playing big minutes in intense situations over long series," Nurse said. "We didn’t have very good rhythm coming into this series, and we needed to find some or we were going to be in trouble. Now, we’ve found some (and) playing a little better. It feels like really as a team and certainly individuals are coming back to who they are and who they can be. There’s a lot of toughness."

Toronto didn’t shoot the ball well overall from the field (just 39.5%), but it had enough firepower from deep.

Fred VanVleet (17 points) made five 3s, Serge Ibaka (18 points) made four 3s, Lowry (22 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, two steals, two blocks) connected on four 3s and OG Anunoby, the hero of Game 3, made two triples and had 11 points, three rebounds, three assist and two blocks.

"It’s a make or miss league," Nurse said. "We made a bunch of them, and they didn’t make a bunch. It’s always a boost for everyone when the ball goes in. It helps your defense and energizes you, too. It always helps, and when they’re not going in, you can see the energy drop, the body language change. Everybody likes to see their own shot go through the net."

All-Star Pascal Siakam was the outlier on 3s for the Raptors, making just 2-of-13, but he had 23 points and 11 rebounds.

Jaylen Brown missed his first nine 3-point attempts for Boston, and Brown, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart and Kemba Walker were a combined 5-of-29 from outside the arc.

Tatum led the Celtics with 24 points and 10 rebounds.

Lowry didn't care as much about Toronto's made 3s as he cared about its defense, which held Boston to a series-low in points.

"Make it tough for everything they're trying to do," Lowry said. "We know they have really good screeners, and Kemba, Tatum and Brown and Smart, they can shoot the ball. We've got to make it tough. We gave up some open ones that we shouldn't have given up. ... Just try to wear them down, contest them and keep playing hard."

In each game, the team with the most 3-pointers has won. It seems simplistic to break down a complicated game and pin wins and losses on one category, but Nurse also thinks there's something to it.

"You need to make 3s, and you need to stop them from making a bunch," he said. "That's really been the story of the games, probably a lot of the games that are going on in the playoffs right here. I don't know if it's as simple as that or not. It kind of feels like it right now. It's a huge part of the game. We're trying to defend them at a super-high level and challenge them, and we're certainly trying to create good ones for our guys to step into and shoot them."

Follow Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt.