Monday will be move night in NBA playoffs

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Boston and the Los Angeles Clippers struck first. Toronto and Denver came back with strong rebuttals.

So, with that, the leads in a pair of knotted-up conference semifinal series will be a reward to the winners on Monday night. Boston and Toronto will play Game 5 of their Eastern Conference series to open the doubleheader, followed by Game 3 of the Western Conference matchup between the Clippers and Nuggets.

The Raptors lost Games 1 and 2 to the Celtics before winning Games 3 and 4. The Nuggets were blown out in Game 1, then never trailed in Game 2 against the Clippers.

“We’re playing a little better, it feels like,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “I think really, as a team and certainly individuals are starting to come back to who we know they are, who they can be.”

The Raptors needed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from OG Anunoby to win Game 3 and avoid a 3-0 series deficit, then grinded out a win in Game 4.

The Clippers have that same sort of unshaken resolve. They fell in Game 2 on an off night from Kawhi Leonard, who was held to an uncharacteristically low 13 points on 4-for-17 shooting. It’s reasonable to think he’ll be a lot better in Game 3.

“We will be ready for Game 3,” Clippers forward Paul George said. “There’s no pep talks for it. It’s the playoffs. We have to be ready and we have to be a lot stronger, and we’ll be up for the fight and challenge in Game 3.”

Denver coach Michael Malone said he was pleased with the way his team was tougher in Game 2 but noted more changes must come before Game 3.

“Obviously, one area we have to clean up is the offensive rebounds,” Malone said. “We played great defense, but they were able to grab 19 rebounds for 27 points. So if we can defend at the same level and clean up the glass, then we have a chance to really make some headway in this series.”