DeMar DeRozan, LeBron James

Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan worked out the night before Game 4 until 1 a.m., knowing LeBron James would be guarding him.

(Frank Gunn)

TORONTO - While members of the Cleveland Cavaliers spent Sunday night watching Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals at Real Sports Bar and Grill in downtown Toronto, DeMar DeRozan spent his evening inside Air Canada Centre.

DeRozan worked up a sweat, shooting close to a thousand shots for about two and a half hours and didn't exit the arena until 1 a.m., cleveland.com has learned. The session placed heavy emphasis on scoring assertively and promptly.

Although DeRozan won't admit it, sources with knowledge of the situation informed cleveland.com that this particular workout happened because he had a feeling LeBron James would be defending him in Monday's Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

When asked about his late-night shooting outing, the two-time All-Star attempted to downplay getting extra work in.

"It's nothing new for me. You can ask anybody in this organization," DeRozan told cleveland.com. "There's not a night that I don't come back in the gym and try to work on something and get better on something. It's nothing new."

Typically, players stay late in the gym to break out of shooting slumps.

"It was just a rhythm thing," he replied. "Listen, just because you know how to dance doesn't mean you can't learn a new move."

DeRozan entered Monday's affair averaging 24.0 points a game on 49 percent shooting from the field. The Cavs' J.R. Smith, who has been heralded as a defensive stopper during the playoffs, had been the primary DeRozan defender. Something had to change.

The Raptors guard was right. James matched up on him from the tip, but there were similar results. DeRozan torched the Cavaliers for his second straight 32-point contest to guide his team to a 105-99 victory, tying the series at two games apiece.

Those new dance moves he picked up on Sunday paid huge dividends.

"He and Kyle [Lowry] both really stepped up tonight," said Raptors head coach Dwane Casey.

DeRozan was aggressive and rarely second-guessed. He understood he wasn't going to overpower James to get to his midrange sweet spots. Instead, he had to use his deception and quickness. No over-dribbling, just attacking.

It also helped that the Cavaliers switched on picks the majority of the time. DeRozan was able to use picks to get more favorable matchups.

"With me on him, they feel like trying to get me up off of him with a screen, with a guard so they can force a switch - that's part of our defense," James said. ". . . We've got to be much better in our schemes and doing it a little bit harder as well."

DeRozan's preparation was key. Clocking in during off hours in the midst of an intense series is admirable, but getting inside the arena without hassle was an accomplishment in itself.

About seven hours before his evening workout, DeRozan had a hard time entering the court. He had arrived to do a television interview with ESPN. Upon entry into the bowl area, a female security guard spotted him and stopped him. She asked what he was doing there and even went as far to ask if he worked at the arena.

DeRozan just chuckled and kept walking down the 100-level steps and onto the court where his backcourt teammate Kyle Lowry was waiting. The security guard called for backup, assuming a possible trespasser was on the scene.

Once help arrived and saw who was on the court, he said to his colleague, "That's our two best players." He was not quite accurate. On Monday night, those two were the two best players on the court.

"That was the first time that ever happened," DeRozan said of the incident. "I just laughed about it. You know me. I wasn't tripping. You can call the whole security team in here and obviously somebody is going to know, but she was just doing her job."

DeRozan surely did his job. And now in going back to Cleveland for Game 5 on Wednesday night, it's time for the Cavaliers to do their job. This series is surprisingly wide open for the taking.