Pivotal Game 5 for four teams

DENVER and Toronto started this second round of the playoffs feeling great about their chances.

And then things went bad.

And then they bounced back.

So now, going into a pair of big-time swing games on Wednesday (PH Time) — Denver plays host to Portland, Toronto plays host to Philadelphia — the Nuggets and Raptors can either take a firm grip on their respective series or get themselves into pits of trouble that would be even deeper than the ones they were in a couple of days ago.

Toronto and Denver both reclaimed home-court advantage with series-tying road wins on Sunday, and the task now is to keep that momentum going with very high stakes.

“You win a game, and you’ve got to play another one,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said Monday. “To borrow a phrase that everybody uses, this is a grind. These things are grinders, and being evenkeeled, professional, hard-working, tough mentality is what it needs on each game and each possession, really, on both ends.” Sunday’s situation was dire for Denver and Toronto: A loss would have meant a 3-1 series deficit, which is almost always a precursor to elimination.

The trick now, Nuggets coach Michael Malone said Monday, is to keep that same level of desperation — a lesson his team learned in Round 1.

“Well, it is dire,” Malone said. “It’s a best-ofthree... and we don’t want to do all that work to allow them to come in and win Game 5 and have a chance to close it out in Game 6 back in Portland. We attacked it the same way in Round 1 in the same scenario. We beat San Antonio down there in Game 4 and we approached Game 5 like it was all or nothing. And we were able to get that win. So, it’s the same thing for us now.” Kawhi Leonard’s numbers have been ridiculous for Toronto so far in this Eastern Conference semifinal series: He’s averaged 38 points, nine rebounds and four assists on 62 percent shooting.

He’s scored 152 points in the series. Philadelphia’s top two scorers, Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiid, have 163 combined in the four games.

Meanwhile, Denver has gotten help from a perhaps surprising source. Will Barton suddenly isn’t an offensive liability anymore.

Booed at home while going 1 for 10 from the floor against San Antonio last month and benched for Torrey Craig not long afterward. Barton finally found his shooting touch in Portland /