Raptors Notes: Lawson, Quickley, Barrett, Battle

Raptors guard/forward A.J. Lawson has been upgraded from questionable to available ahead of Sunday’s Game 4 against Cleveland, tweets Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca.

According to Murphy, head coach Darko Rajakovic said Lawson has been battling a back issue for a couple weeks and has been missing practices. However, the impending free agent will be good to go this afternoon.

Lawson played 14 minutes off the bench in Game 1, but his playing time has dwindled over the course of the first-round series, playing five minutes in Game 2 and just two minutes in Game 3. The Cavs won both of their home games to open the series, but the Raptors bounced back with their own home victory in Game 3.

Here’s more from Toronto:

• Starting point guard Immanuel Quickley was ruled out for the rest of the series on Friday after aggravating a right hamstring injury. According to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link), Quickley re-injured his hamstring when he was doing on-court drills on Thursday. There’s no official timeline for the 26-year-old’s return.
• RJ Barrett played a huge role in helping the Raptors win Game 3, recording 33 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals in 39 minutes. Brandon Ingram praised his teammate’s mentality on Saturday, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter video link). “His name has been everywhere (in trade rumors) this year,” Ingram said of Barrett. “His name hasn’t been brought up a lot on the positive side. His mindset is to prove to people that he belongs on this floor.”
• In a video for TSN.ca, Lewenberg and analyst Jack Armstrong consider whether second-year forward Jamison Battle could emerge as a trusted shooter off the bench with Quickley sidelined. The 24-year-old only received three combined minutes in the first two games of the series, but he was a significant contributor in Game 3, converting all five of his field goal attempts — including four three-pointers — en route to 14 points in 16 minutes.