The Toronto Raptors are in a tight spot, trailing 2-1 with another tough road game at the Wells Fargo Center ahead of them.
The Philadelphia 76ers took it to the Raptors in Game 3 and now Toronto is desperate for a win to try and even the series before returning home for Game 5.
The Raptors were hit with some potentially terrible news ahead of Game 4, as they could be without their budding star forward Pascal Siakam who was listed as 'doubtful' with a right calf contusion.
Aside from Kawhi Leonard, Siakam has really been the only other productive player on the team in this series.
Kyle Lowry has been quiet – the Raptors' All-Star point guard is posting 12.1 points on 36.1% shooting from the field and a 14.3% clip from long range.
He needs to be their viable second option and he hasn't been, but Lowry plans to change that.
“Be a little bit more aggressive, I might take some shots that I haven't taken in about a year and a half," he told the media at shootaround today.
"Forcing... not forcing, but taking some shots that may be a little bit tougher than they usually are, but I'm gonna play. And that was going to be the mindset no matter if Pascal played or not."
Lowry has a good history of stepping up in a Game 4 with the Raptors in the tough spot of trailing 2-1.
In 2014 when Toronto was in the same spot against the Brooklyn Nets, Lowry went for 22 points and had a game-best plus/minus of plus-14 in a game that the Raptors won by eight.
In 2016, the Raptors faced the same situation against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Lowry outplayed everybody on the court that day. He went for 35 points on 70% shooting from the field to go with five assists and five rebounds to lead Toronto to a six-point win to even the series.
In 2017 trailing 2-1 against the Milwaukee Bucks, he had 18 points, four boards and four assists with a game-best plus/minus of plus-15, leading the Raptors to a nine-point win.
So he's done it before, on a few different occasions.
This game is as big as it gets, and Lowry's aware of that too.
"Big. Huge. Huge. We need it. It's a must-win for us," he told TSN's Josh Lewenberg at shootaround. "We wanna win it. We're gonna desperately go out there and play as hard as we possibly can to win the game."
Buckle your seatbelts, because this Game 4 is as big as it gets if you're a Raptors fan.
