The Raptors used massive performances from their two All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry to come away with a 29-point victory, the largest playoff win in franchise history The Toronto Raptors responded from their Game 1 slip-up in the best way possible. They annihilated the Orlando Magic 111-82 behind fantastic performances from their two All-Stars, Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry. Lowry bounced back strong in Game 2, finishing with 22 points and seven assists on 8-for-13 shooting from the field. Leonard showcased just how dominant he can be, scoring a game-high 37 points on 15-for-22 shooting from the field while burying four of his eight 3-point attempts. For more from the Raptors' blow out win, we have you covered with takeaways below... Playoff Kawhi Playoff Kawhi is real, and he's just getting started. After an impressive 25-point performance (on 10-for-18 shooting) in Game 1, Leonard came out with what Greg Anthony called 'a laser-like focus' to dominate for each of the 33 minutes he appeared in Game 2. The domination was from the get-go as Toronto's All-Star forward scored or assisted on 17 of the team's first 26 points. He would go on to finish the first half with 17 points (on 7-for-9 shooting) to go along with three rebounds and three assists despite being in foul trouble for the entire half. Things blew open in the third quarter, where he dominated with 17 more points, scoring in a number of ways to help the Raptors get out to a 24-point lead to go into the final frame. Leonard finished the night with 37 points (on 15-for-22 shooting), four rebounds, four assists and two steals - his 15 made field goals are a new postseason career-high. If this performance is a sign of things to come, the Raptors have plenty to be optimistic about. Lowry is back Following his Game 1 performance, Kyle Lowry was under severe scrutiny from basketball minds everywhere. His zero-point outing in the Raptors' home loss was the bud of many jokes and the pressure was on to step up in Game 2. Lowry wasted no time to make an impact in this one - the All-Star point guard looked back to his old self right out of the gate. He had 15 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field and 2-for-4 shooting from the perimeter, eclipsing the number of shot attempts he took in Game 1's entirety. His passing - which was never an issue in the first game of the series as he finished with eight assists - remained a strength as he dished out four assists in the first two quarters. The Raptors were playing off of Lowry's energy and the Scotiabank Arena crowd didn't hesitate to let their captain know he had their support, roaring on each and every bucket he scored. Lowry finished with 22 points (8-13 FG, 2-4 3PT) seven assists, four rebounds, two steals and a block while going plus-30 in the box score, bouncing back strong to help lead his team to victory. Raptors' third quarter Toronto's quality first half built them a modest 12-point advantage with momentum on their side. Coming out of the half, the Raptors had intentions of putting this game away as fast as possible to send the series to Orlando tied and they did just that. Toronto scored 39 points in the frame, tied for the second-most points the franchise has scored in a single quarter of a playoff game. Led by Kawhi's 17 points in the quarter, the Magic's offence could not keep up with the Raptors. Leonard went 7-for-9 from the field, burying both of his 3-point attempts, including a heat check with Aaron Gordon's hand right in his face to prove just how hot he was. Marc Gasol's nine points and three assists, Pascal Siakam's seven points and Lowry's four points and three assists covered the majority of the scoring aside from Leonard's efforts. The Raptors 12-point halftime lead doubled to 24 heading into the fourth quarter, essentially icing the game for the home team. Where is Vucevic? Nikola Vucevic, the Magic's lone All-Star, continues to struggle in the series. In the 2018-19 regular season, the 7-footer was a walking double-double, averaging 20.8 points to go along with 12.0 rebounds in the 80 games in which he appeared. In the Magic's Game 2 loss, Vucevic finished with just six points (on 3-for-7 shooting), six rebounds and three assists in 25 minutes of action. To make matters worse, the centre turned the ball over four times. After scoring just 11 points (on 3-for-14 shooting) in Game 1, Vucevic was expected to bounce back in a major way, stepping up for a Magic team that managed to escape with a win despite his performance. Game 2 was more of the same, a credit to the physicality and defence of Marc Gasol, who has looked to make things difficult for the Magic's big man. As the series shifts to Orlando, the Magic will continue to lean on their All-Star performer. Game 1 looks to have been an anomaly, as Orlando is a much better team when its big man gets going. Orlando's offensive struggles The Magic needed garbage time scoring to break 80, failing to keep up with the Raptors' high-flying offence in Game 2. 82 points is the third-lowest scoring total for the Magic this season, while that's the least amount of points Toronto has given up this season. Terrence Ross was doing his best as an offensive catalyst with 15 points in the first half, but Ross failed to score in the second half and no one picked up his slack. As we mentioned above, Vucevic was nowhere to be found. Game 1 hero DJ Augustin finished with nine points going 1-for-7 from the field and Jonathan Isaac scored five points going 1-for-8 from the field. Aaron Gordon's 20 points were the sole bright spot for the Magic, as Evan Fournier's 10 points came on an ugly 4-for-12 shooting night where he went 2-for-7 from long range.<doc-sep>The Golden State Warriors’ title defense hit a remarkable roadblock on Monday night as they blew a 31-point lead to lose 135-131 to the Los Angeles Clippers at Oracle Arena. Seemingly cruising to a 2-0 series lead in their first round, 1 vs. 8 matchup, the Warriors completely imploded in the face of a masterful and resilient challenge from the superstar-free Clippers. Golden State led 94-63 with 7:31 remaining in the third quarter and had already started to rest key players to spare their legs, when Lou Williams sparked an extraordinary fightback from the visitors. It gave Steve Kerr’s men an unwanted slice of history, with the previous record playoff revival being the Los Angeles Lakers' resurgence from 29 points down to the Seattle Supersonics in 1989. NBA PLAYOFFS:Five impressive stats from 76ers' huge third quarter PREDICTIONS:Who will take home the championship? CLICK & ROLL:Exclusive NBA commentary delivered to your inbox “(We) just don’t give in,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “They were beating us in every facet and we kept searching and kept searching and found (a combination) we liked. I thought it was our spirit more than anything.” Williams, the highest scorer off the bench in NBA history, dropped 36 as Los Angeles kept plugging away at the Warriors' lead as the hosts tensed up during the final quarter. Landry Shamet, a rookie guard acquired as part of the Tobias Harris-to-Philadelphia trade earlier in the season, knocked down a nerveless three-pointer with 16.5 seconds remaining to go to put his team ahead. Stephen Curry was unable to connect from downtown as the Warriors tried to rescue what had turned into a miserable night, compounded by a quad injury that ruled DeMarcus Cousins out for the night and left him facing an MRI on Tuesday. The series had gotten feisty in the opening game when Kevin Durant and Patrick Beverley both got ejected for double technical but that appeared to be a mere sideshow in a one-sided clash — with the Warriors such heavy favorites that the Las Vegas bookies listed the Clippers at 100:1 before the playoffs began. However, on this wild and unpredictable night things suddenly got real and the defending champions now have a real fight on their hands — against a team that found its confidence, and found itself. “We have to keep fighting,” Rivers added. “It is who we are. Let’s be us. Don’t change. Keep playing the way we play.” Follow USA TODAY Sports' Martin Roger on Twitter @RogersJourno.<doc-sep>CLICK HERE if you are having a problem viewing the photos or video on a mobile device OAKLAND — Were you surprised by the fact that the Warriors blew a 31-point second-half lead and lost to the Clippers in Game 2 of their first-round series Monday? If so, you must have missed this team’s regular season. Yes, 31 is an awful lot of points to choke away — an NBA postseason record, in fact — but in many ways, the Warriors spent 82 games practicing for a moment like Monday’s. Because if the 2018-19 Warriors’ developed one habit this regular season, it was taking their proverbial foot off the accelerator. Monday night, they turned in their best coasting performance yet, allowing 85 second-half points and being unable to re-engage offensively down the stretch when that massive second-half lead dwindled down to a single-digit deficit. Related Articles Warriors and their fans have been part of NBA’s fans vs. players problem Steve Kerr admits he can’t stop thinking about Klay Thompson’s return Andrew Wiggins wants to play in the Olympics. Will Steph Curry appear in his first Games? Kurtenbach: The Warriors can’t make the same mistake again this offseason Warriors exit interviews: Wiseman in future plans, help for Curry, the Klay-Oubre puzzle and more The Warriors were done in, yet again, by their hubris — the natural and unavoidable byproduct of four straight trips to the NBA Finals and a roster overloaded with talent. Monday’s loss was another reminder that it’s really hard to three-peat and even harder to win four out of five. That’s not to absolve the Warriors of their sins Monday. No sir — it’s merely a reminder. And while the Warriors might be the most talented team in the tournament, they are by no means perfect. This team showed cracks, on and off the court, in the regular season — ones that could expand and leave this team in ruins this postseason. Some of those cracks re-appeared on Monday. Ultimately, the Clippers are not going to the team that razes this Warriors dynasty. Yes, they played an excellent second half Monday — there’s no doubt about that — but in the process, they lost their best asset in beating Golden State: the element of surprise. So no, Monday night was not the beginning of the end for the Dub dynasty. But it might have been a sneak preview. The truth is only one team can beat the Warriors — the Warriors. In Game 2, they showed how refined their self-destructive tenancies are. The Warriors now have two-plus days to stew in Monday’s defeat — to sit in the embarrassment and anger. How will the Warriors channel those emotions? The Warriors find themselves at a crossroads in this series — one that could define this postseason and, in turn, an era. Will they turn them back on themselves, perhaps expanding those cracks that re-appeared Monday? Or will they use them for fuel to play better ball in the days and weeks to come? There’s little reason to believe that Golden State won’t handle the Clippers for the remainder of this now-extended series — they did have a 31-point second-half lead, after all — but the remainder of their own mortality in Game 2 could serve as a reminder that they cannot take any win for granted in the postseason. That’s an important lesson to be taught early on, particularly with the set-up of the Western Conference bracket. Should the Warriors right the ship and advance, they’ll likely face their rival Houston Rockets in the second round. They don’t want to learn hard lessons about effort in that series, because that team, unlike this Clippers’ outfit, could help them in their self-inflicted downfall. Related Articles Warriors and their fans have been part of NBA’s fans vs. players problem Steve Kerr admits he can’t stop thinking about Klay Thompson’s return Andrew Wiggins wants to play in the Olympics. Will Steph Curry appear in his first Games? Kurtenbach: The Warriors can’t make the same mistake again this offseason Warriors exit interviews: Wiseman in future plans, help for Curry, the Klay-Oubre puzzle and more Golden State wasn’t threatened by the Clippers, so they played loose, uninspired basketball after going up 31 points, just as they had done so many times in the regular season. Only this wasn’t the regular season, and the Clippers are not an ordinary team. LA didn’t make the playoffs because they were talented, they made it because they’re ornery and relentless. To them, a 31-point lead wasn’t an insurmountable deficit, it was a challenge. And by the time the late threat from LA became imminent to the Warriors, Stephen Curry and company’s minds were halfway to Tuesday’s off-day and unable to re-engage with the opponent who was playing hard to the final buzzer. Of course, after an epic blunder like Monday’s, was will be plenty of blame to be divvied out to blue-and-gold-clad parties. Warriors coach Steve Kerr is facing the brunt of it in the post-game aftermath, though for the life of me, I don’t understand why. The chief argument against him is that he shouldn’t have taken out his best player, Curry, when he picked up his fourth foul in the third quarter, with the Warriors up 28 points. That, of course, is ridiculous — a comical byproduct of the disconnect between critical thinking and clear hindsight that shows up in moments like these. Alas, being blamed for complicated situations that go against a team is in the job description for head coaches. Kerr will survive. Kevin Durant will pick up blame, too. He turned the ball over nine times, shot only eight times, and picked up four offensive fouls in the second half to foul out of the game with 1:21 remaining in the fourth quarter. He’s yet to finish a contest in this series. It’s hard to argue that Durant had a good contest, but even with his uninspiring performance, the Warriors opened up a 31-point lead with it.<doc-sep>Ben Simmons got an earful from the Philly crowd. With the same 76ers fans Simmons put on blast for booing in the playoff opener now going wild in Game 2, Simmons cupped a hand to his right ear just like Allen Iverson's signature move to spur the cheers even louder. And he did it with Iverson rooting on the Sixers from courtside. Simmons had 18 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds and the Philadelphia 76ers had an answer for the pesky Brooklyn Nets in a 145-123 win to even their Eastern Conference playoff series Monday night. "I was just trying to be me," Simmons said. Simmons had a disastrous Game 1 , on the court (nine points) and from a PR perspective after he criticized fans for booing during a game the Sixers were never really in. He backtracked the next day at practice and never gave another 20,591 fans a chance to do anything but roar in approval in Game 2. Simmons flashed the All-Star form that helped lead the Sixers to 51 wins, and was aggressive from tipoff. He used his size and speed to attack the lane and scored 16 points in the half en route to his second career postseason triple-double. The Sixers busted the game open with a 14-0 run to start the second half and then stretched the lead to 20 on a Simmons steal and fastbreak basket. With a packed house standing, Simmons got a massive ovation when he cupped his hand to his right ear just like Iverson did in his prime. "I was thinking about the boos from the last game," Simmons said, smiling. "I have a lot of love for this city." Iverson and former Sixers teammate Dikembe Mutombo attended the game and tossed T-shirts into the crowd. Had Mutombo played in this one, the Nets surely would have received one of his signature finger wags. "Everybody's got to bring it," Sixers All-Star center Joel Embiid said. "We need everybody." The Sixers got a little something from everybody in this one. The Nets collapsed in the second half, outplayed and overmatched much as expected by pundits and bookmakers (they were 7.5-point Game 2 underdogs). The Sixers scored 51 points on 18 of 25 shooting and made all 11 free throws in the third. "We expect a haymaker," Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said before the game. "We know it's coming. They're too good, too talented. too well coached. It's coming. It's going to be how we react." Not well. Embiid shook off another game-time decision to play through tendinitis in his left knee and delivered after a sluggish Game 1. Embiid scored 13 points in the third as the Sixers raced to a 29-point lead. "Whenever I'm out there, I kind of forget about the pain and just try and do the right things," Embiid said. On a minutes restriction, Embiid had some unexpected help from popular backup Boban Marjanovic. He scored 14 points in the first half (only Simmons had more with 16) and let the Sixers find a comfort level on offense with Embiid out for long stretches. "This is just the path we're on with Joel," coach Brett Brown said. "There is zero doubt he is our crown jewel." Embiid was whistled for a flagrant foul for throwing an elbow at Jarrett Allen late in the half and the Sixers nursing a 65-64 lead. "I got him pretty good and I'm sorry about it," Embiid said, laughing at the pseudo apology. Embiid had 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Marjanovic scored 16. Embiid played ball boy and had the crowd laughing when he hopped off the bench to wipe off a basketball. The Sixers mopped the floor with the Nets. The Nets head home for Games 3 and 4 certainly grateful for a split and at least a half of good basketball before the Sixers picked them apart. Spencer Dinwiddie led the Nets with 19 points and D'Angelo Russell had 16. "I know the Barclays Center is going to be jumping in there," Russell said. "The buzz around the city is what we needed." TIP-INS Nets: C Jared Dudley sat out with tightness in his right calf. 76ers: Mutombo, who helped lead the Sixers to the 2001 finals, rang the ceremonial bell. Iverson moved from his courtside seat to a suite to sit with actor Jamie Foxx. PLENTY OF POINTS The Sixers topped the 141 points scored in a 1967 playoff game against the San Francisco Warriors to set a team franchise record. UP NEXT The series shifts to Barclays Center for Game 3 Thursday night and Game 4 Saturday.<doc-sep>
OAKLAND, Calif. — Landry Shamet hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 16.5 seconds left, Stephen Curry couldn’t answer on the other end, and the Clippers climbed back from 31 points down to stun the Warriors 135-131 on Monday night and even their first-round playoff series at one game apiece. It was a historic comeback that topped a 29-point rally by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1989 Western Conference semis over Seattle. Curry scored 29 points and put the Warriors up 131-128 with 58 seconds left before Shamet’s dagger on a night the two-time defending NBA champions lost DeMarcus Cousins to a leg injury in the first quarter. Lou Williams tied the game on a jumper with 1:10 to play then Curry immediately answered. Williams scored again at 46 seconds and finished with 36 points and made 8 of 10 free throws in as the teams combined for 64 fouls and 76 free throws attempted. Cousins injured his left quadriceps muscle in the first quarter and was done for the game, but Golden State’s depth shined and the Warriors built a 23-point halftime lead they pushed to a 31-point advantage failing to hold off Los Angeles late. Williams’ jumper and three-point play with 5:34 left pulled the Clippers within 120-117 then he rebounded his own miss and scored the putback at the 5:05 mark and cut it to 121-119. Kevin Durant drove through the paint past Montrezl Harrell for a one-handed jam and three-point play with 2:48 left, then went at Harrell the next time down and was whistled for the offensive foul. Durant fouled out with three straight offensive fouls. Cousins was scheduled to undergo an MRI exam after the injury in just his second career playoff game following a nine-year wait. The big man returned in January from a nearly year-long absence following surgery for a torn left Achilles tendon. His status for Game 3 on Thursday at Staples Center is in serious doubt. Cousins hobbled to the locker room at the 8:09 mark of the first quarter. At the 8 1/2-minute mark Cousins stole the ball from Patrick Beverley in the back court and tried to retrieve the loose ball when went down in front of the Golden State bench and grabbed at his left quad. LeBron James tweeted prayers for Cousins, who fouled out of Saturday’s 121-104 Game 1 win with nine points, nine rebounds and four assists in 21 minutes. Kevon Looney picked up the bulk of the extra minutes in Cousins’ absence and scored a career-high 19 points making all six of his shots but the Warriors had their seven-game postseason winning streak snapped that dated to last year’s run to a repeat championship. Durant had 21 points, five rebounds and five assists, Klay Thompson scored 17 points and Draymond Green 14 with nine assists. Curry followed up a 38-point performance in Game 1 to give him the most 3s in postseason history with another nice showing but Golden State hurt itself with too many miscues. The Warriors committed 21 turnovers in Game 1, then 22 more Monday — nine by Durant. Los Angeles wanted to do a better job stopping the late bursts each quarter the Warriors had in Game 1, and the Clippers were somehow able to claw their way back. Both coaches challenged their teams to be more poised in Game 2 following the ejections of Beverley and Durant in the opener. Beverley again pushed the limits but the sides avoided a testy encore, and he fouled out with 4:33 to go to roaring cheers from the sellout crowd. Durant left at 1:21.