Can Toronto Raptors Win Eastern Conference Finals?

After evening up the series at home, do the Toronto Raptors stand a chance at pulling off a monumental upset and reaching the NBA Finals?

The Toronto Raptors may boast the strongest home-court advantage of any team left in the NBA Playoffs.

After losing by a combined 50 points in the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Raptors fed off of the energy in the Air Canada Centre and their star duo of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan combined for 52 points on 19-of-32 shooting on their way to a 15-point victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3.

While many thought the Cavs would bounce back in a pivotal Game 4, what happened instead was an even stronger performance by the Raptors, as Lowry and DeRozan both exceeded the 30-point mark and the team held Cleveland to one made shot in the last four minutes of the game to win 105-99 and even the series at two games a piece.

Now a series that many thought the Cavs would win handily is more in doubt than previously believed, with the Raptors having a solid chance to come out on top.

However, even with the series evened up going back to Cleveland, the Raptors face an uphill climb to overcome a very talented Cavaliers team.

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For starters, the Raptors will have to steal at least one game on the road — a place that they have struggled tremendously throughout the course of the playoffs.

While the team is 8-2 at home in the postseason, they have been the exact opposite on the road, winning only two out of eight away contests.

In those road games, they’re scoring 89.1 points per game on 40.6 percent shooting as opposed to 98.3 on 42.4 percent shooting at the Air Canada Centre.

Obviously, the team will have to beat the Cavs on their home floor at Quicken Loans Arena — where they’re undefeated so far this postseason — in either Game 5 or Game 7 to take the series.

That leads to the second factor: any chance the Raptors have of beating the Cavs in Cleveland or anywhere else rests squarely on the shoulders of their All-Star tandem.

It’s no secret that DeRozan and Lowry have been less than consistent this postseason in terms of offensive output, but both were able to find and sustain their groove over the last two games at home.

While the former has been performing surprisingly well in the Eastern Conference Finals (26 points per game on 52.1 percent shooting), the latter’s playoff woes continued to haunt him in Cleveland (18 combined points in Games 1 and 2).

However, Lowry seems to be slowly rebuilding his confidence and consistency, as he eclipsed his 20 point total in Game 3 in the first half of Game 4 on his way to a 35-point performance where he went 14-of-20 from the field and 4-of-7 from three point range.

Lowry will need to carry the confidence he rediscovered in Game 4 throughout the rest of the series for the Raptors to have a fighting chance to advance.

Lastly, a major factor in Toronto’s success over the last two rounds has been the emergence of one Bismack Biyombo.

Biyombo gave the Raptors a significant advantage against a depleted Miami Heat frontcourt in the second round and is continuing to be a problem for an undersized Cavalier frontcourt, grabbing 40 boards and turning away seven shots in the past two games.

Biyombo’s tenacious rebounding and ability to alter Cleveland’s shots at the rim was a clear factor in Game 4 as they only took more than half of their shots from the arc. This is an advantage Toronto will desperately need to come away with two wins and the series.

A week ago, many didn’t believe the Raptors had a chance to win a game against the red-hot Cavaliers, let alone the series. Now, the Raptors have an opportunity to pull off a monumental upset over the reigning Eastern Conference champions.

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The North faces an uphill battle against an experienced and extremely talented Cavs team but if they can continue to do the things that made them successful at home, they stand just as good a chance as any to reach their first NBA Finals in franchise history.