Series Preview: Raptors vs. Cavs
Series Preview: Raptors vs. Cavs
The Raptors are 1-2 against the Cavs this season which could have been easily 2-1 if the Raptors didn’t blow a 15-point lead. The Cavs are a 4 seed that is less than the sum of their pieces.
The Raptors are 1-2 against the Cavs this season which could have been easily 2-1 if the Raptors didn’t blow a 15-point lead. The Cavs are a 4 seed that is less than the sum of their pieces.
The Raptors are 1-2 against the Cavs this season which could have been easily 2-1 if the Raptors didn’t blow a 15-point lead. The Cavs are a 4 seed that is less than the sum of their pieces. LeBron James is the best player in the league, but Tyronn Lue doesn’t make a good use of the other players on this team.
Regular Season Meeting One Against the Cavs
At home on January 11th, the Raptors embarrassed the Cavs by winning 133-99. The Raptors shot 50% from the field and 43% from three. LeBron James got his 26 points, but only had 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and was -22. This was at the point in the season where the Cavs were at their worst and not practicing. You would think DeMar DeRozan would have had a massive scoring outing in this game, but he only had 13, but he was 3 of 5 from three. Furthermore, he had 8 assists and no turnovers. We have seen in previous seasons the Raptors have struggled to generate assists, but in this game, they won assists 31-18. The Raptors had seven guys in double figures for this game. Jonas Valanciunas and Jakob Poeltl combined for 30 rebounds. We saw the Raptors have some rebounding issues in this last Wizards series, but in this game, the Raptors dominated the glass 63-35. It’s impossible to expect the Cavs to play this poorly again, but when you hear how the Raptors lost two games late in the season to the Cavs remember this game.
Photo taken by Keith Allison
Meeting Deux
The Raptors had 79 points at the half in Cleveland in this game (March 21st). Unfortunately, the Raptors lost 132-129. LeBron James had 35 points, 7 rebounds, 17 assists, and somehow no turnovers. Kevin Love had 23 points (including 4 triples) and 12 rebounds. George Hill was 10 of 11 from the field and had 22 points. Jose Calderon was 4 of 4 from downtown and finished with 14 points. Even Jeff Green had 15 points in this game. Going into this game there was some fear George Hill would shut down Kyle Lowry like he did two years ago. Lowry was most definitely not shut down. He finished with 24 points (6 of 9 from three), 7 assists, and no turnovers. The Raptors got production across the board. In terms of scoring the one weak spot was the power forward position. Serge Ibaka and Pascal Siakam only combined for 15 points. This mattered because the Raptors didn’t play defense so the only way for them to win would have been to outplay the Cavs offensively.
Meeting Trois
The scoreboard for this road game (April 3rd) doesn’t seem awful because the Raptors only lost by 6 points, but they really weren’t in this game at the end. Aside from OG Anunoby, the Raptors starters were all negative. I mentioned in the previous game how the Raptors didn’t play defense. For this game, the Raptors continued collapsing 3 guys on LeBron and it led to a lot of open threes. So naturally, Jose Calderon and Kevin Love killed the Raptors again. Norman Powell and Bebe each for +8 in the final two minutes of this game when it was out of reach. These guys aren’t expected to play a lot in this series. However, the Cavs are a very poor defensive team so potentially Powell could hit some shots in a cupcake matchup. As for Bebe, he could play out of need. LeBron is going to draw a lot of fouls on the Raptors bigs. If Jonas Valanciunas or Jakob Poeltl get into foul trouble or foul out the Raptors will need Bebe.
LeBron Flames or Lames?
On the court, LeBron James is playing some of his best basketball. There’s a zero percent chance the Raptors fully shut him down and they shouldn’t sacrifice everything to do so because it will lead to open threes for the Cavs. If the Cavs are playing from behind in this series the drama around LeBron will build.
“Where will LeBron James be playing next year?”
Beyond this, LeBron has the ability to override coaching decisions. He wanted Tristan Thompson playing in game 7 against the Pacers and it worked. If LeBron starts making some rotations that don’t work it will create chaos and this fragile Cavs team could implode.
Show Him Some Love
Kevin Love has a history of cooking the Raptors. Serge Ibaka was okay against him last year in the playoffs, but not good enough. I remember a couple plays last year where Love beat Ibaka off the dribble. Kevin Love is not fast by any means. There’s no situation where he should be beating anyone off the dribble. The Raptors need to close out on him from three and make him battle for every board. Finally, Kevin Love may or may not be playing with only one functioning thumb. If the Raptors “inadvertently” hit him in the thumb it wouldn’t be the worst thing.
Photo taken by Keith Allison
New Cavs
At the trade deadline, everyone was praising the Cavs on the players they added. George Hill looks like a player that can play once every four days. Jordan Clarkson isn’t a catch and shoot guy. He needs 15 dribbles before he puts up a shot and that simply doesn’t pair well with LeBron. Rodney Hood isn’t bad, but he also isn’t consistently good. Defensively, Larry Nance can do a little bit to help the Cavs, but isn’t going to enough to alter the scoreboard. These guys haven’t significantly made the Cavs better.
Bench MOB
Fred VanVleet returned in game 6 against the Wizards and it looked liked he juiced the Raptors bench when the Raptors were down early. He’s one of the best players in the NBA in Net Rating (12.1). Delon Wright showed up big in VanVleet’s absence in the series. Delon should no longer be hesitating from three as he shot over 45% from three in that series. CJ Miles is up and down, but he can make bigtime threes. Pascal Siakam didn’t really show much against the Wizards outside of game 6 where he played great. He will draw a tough assignment when he’s matched up against LeBron. Jakob Poeltl needs to continue playing defense and rebounding the basketball. Foul trouble has been an issue for Poeltl and it will probably be an issue again because LeBron is going to try to draw as many fouls as possible when he gets inside the paint.
3 Keys To Victory
1) Defense
The Raptors have a history of failures particularly on the defensive end against the Cavs. Collapsing 3+ players on LeBron James doesn’t work because it gives the Cavs an open three. The Raptors need to guard the three-point line while not giving LeBron free buckets from the paint.
2) Foul Trouble
OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam are the best defensive options to put on LeBron James. LeBron is going to go after whoever is covering him and try to draw as many fouls as possible. James being the elite superstar he is often gets him the benefit of the doubt. In no way will Anunoby or Siakam shut him down, but if they are out of the game because of foul trouble it puts the Raptors in a vulnerable position because the Raptors don’t really have anyone else that can keep up with LeBron James both in physicality and speed.
3) The New Offense
The Raptors new offensive scheme of sharing the wealth has been really good to the Raptors this season. The Cavs have been a subpar defensive team, so scoring on them might not be difficult. However, the Raptors should still stick with the offense that has worked and carried them to this point. If the Raptors let all their guys get going early there is almost no chance the Cavs are going to be able to extinguish the Raptors fiery offense.
Prediction
We will likely see Tristan Thompson return to the Cavs rotation because he looked really good in game 7 versus the Pacers. Thompson can give the Raptors a lot of problems defensively and on the glass, but at the end of the day it comes down to LeBron James. If the Raptors figure out they cannot put more than one help defender on LeBron and not leave any three-point shooter open the Raptors should have a chance to win this series. The Raptors have 10 really good players. The Cavs do not. I would expect this to be a long and drawn out series because LeBron is insanely good. In game 7 at home in the ACC where the Raptors are 36-7 (including the playoffs) in that building, they will eliminate LeBron James. If this happens maybe the Raptors will finally start getting a little bit of respect from American media.
The Raptors are 1-2 against the Cavs this season which could have been easily 2-1 if the Raptors didn’t blow a 15-point lead. The Cavs are a 4 seed that is less than the sum of their pieces. LeBron James is the best player in the league, but Tyronn Lue doesn’t make a good use of the other players on this team.
Regular Season Meeting One Against the Cavs
At home on January 11th, the Raptors embarrassed the Cavs by winning 133-99. The Raptors shot 50% from the field and 43% from three. LeBron James got his 26 points, but only had 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and was -22. This was at the point in the season where the Cavs were at their worst and not practicing. You would think DeMar DeRozan would have had a massive scoring outing in this game, but he only had 13, but he was 3 of 5 from three. Furthermore, he had 8 assists and no turnovers. We have seen in previous seasons the Raptors have struggled to generate assists, but in this game, they won assists 31-18. The Raptors had seven guys in double figures for this game. Jonas Valanciunas and Jakob Poeltl combined for 30 rebounds. We saw the Raptors have some rebounding issues in this last Wizards series, but in this game, the Raptors dominated the glass 63-35. It’s impossible to expect the Cavs to play this poorly again, but when you hear how the Raptors lost two games late in the season to the Cavs remember this game.
Photo taken by Keith Allison
Meeting Deux
The Raptors had 79 points at the half in Cleveland in this game (March 21st). Unfortunately, the Raptors lost 132-129. LeBron James had 35 points, 7 rebounds, 17 assists, and somehow no turnovers. Kevin Love had 23 points (including 4 triples) and 12 rebounds. George Hill was 10 of 11 from the field and had 22 points. Jose Calderon was 4 of 4 from downtown and finished with 14 points. Even Jeff Green had 15 points in this game. Going into this game there was some fear George Hill would shut down Kyle Lowry like he did two years ago. Lowry was most definitely not shut down. He finished with 24 points (6 of 9 from three), 7 assists, and no turnovers. The Raptors got production across the board. In terms of scoring the one weak spot was the power forward position. Serge Ibaka and Pascal Siakam only combined for 15 points. This mattered because the Raptors didn’t play defense so the only way for them to win would have been to outplay the Cavs offensively.
Meeting Trois
The scoreboard for this road game (April 3rd) doesn’t seem awful because the Raptors only lost by 6 points, but they really weren’t in this game at the end. Aside from OG Anunoby, the Raptors starters were all negative. I mentioned in the previous game how the Raptors didn’t play defense. For this game, the Raptors continued collapsing 3 guys on LeBron and it led to a lot of open threes. So naturally, Jose Calderon and Kevin Love killed the Raptors again. Norman Powell and Bebe each for +8 in the final two minutes of this game when it was out of reach. These guys aren’t expected to play a lot in this series. However, the Cavs are a very poor defensive team so potentially Powell could hit some shots in a cupcake matchup. As for Bebe, he could play out of need. LeBron is going to draw a lot of fouls on the Raptors bigs. If Jonas Valanciunas or Jakob Poeltl get into foul trouble or foul out the Raptors will need Bebe.
LeBron Flames or Lames?
On the court, LeBron James is playing some of his best basketball. There’s a zero percent chance the Raptors fully shut him down and they shouldn’t sacrifice everything to do so because it will lead to open threes for the Cavs. If the Cavs are playing from behind in this series the drama around LeBron will build.
“Where will LeBron James be playing next year?”
Beyond this, LeBron has the ability to override coaching decisions. He wanted Tristan Thompson playing in game 7 against the Pacers and it worked. If LeBron starts making some rotations that don’t work it will create chaos and this fragile Cavs team could implode.
Show Him Some Love
Kevin Love has a history of cooking the Raptors. Serge Ibaka was okay against him last year in the playoffs, but not good enough. I remember a couple plays last year where Love beat Ibaka off the dribble. Kevin Love is not fast by any means. There’s no situation where he should be beating anyone off the dribble. The Raptors need to close out on him from three and make him battle for every board. Finally, Kevin Love may or may not be playing with only one functioning thumb. If the Raptors “inadvertently” hit him in the thumb it wouldn’t be the worst thing.
Photo taken by Keith Allison
New Cavs
At the trade deadline, everyone was praising the Cavs on the players they added. George Hill looks like a player that can play once every four days. Jordan Clarkson isn’t a catch and shoot guy. He needs 15 dribbles before he puts up a shot and that simply doesn’t pair well with LeBron. Rodney Hood isn’t bad, but he also isn’t consistently good. Defensively, Larry Nance can do a little bit to help the Cavs, but isn’t going to enough to alter the scoreboard. These guys haven’t significantly made the Cavs better.
Bench MOB
Fred VanVleet returned in game 6 against the Wizards and it looked liked he juiced the Raptors bench when the Raptors were down early. He’s one of the best players in the NBA in Net Rating (12.1). Delon Wright showed up big in VanVleet’s absence in the series. Delon should no longer be hesitating from three as he shot over 45% from three in that series. CJ Miles is up and down, but he can make bigtime threes. Pascal Siakam didn’t really show much against the Wizards outside of game 6 where he played great. He will draw a tough assignment when he’s matched up against LeBron. Jakob Poeltl needs to continue playing defense and rebounding the basketball. Foul trouble has been an issue for Poeltl and it will probably be an issue again because LeBron is going to try to draw as many fouls as possible when he gets inside the paint.
3 Keys To Victory
1) Defense
The Raptors have a history of failures particularly on the defensive end against the Cavs. Collapsing 3+ players on LeBron James doesn’t work because it gives the Cavs an open three. The Raptors need to guard the three-point line while not giving LeBron free buckets from the paint.
2) Foul Trouble
OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam are the best defensive options to put on LeBron James. LeBron is going to go after whoever is covering him and try to draw as many fouls as possible. James being the elite superstar he is often gets him the benefit of the doubt. In no way will Anunoby or Siakam shut him down, but if they are out of the game because of foul trouble it puts the Raptors in a vulnerable position because the Raptors don’t really have anyone else that can keep up with LeBron James both in physicality and speed.
3) The New Offense
The Raptors new offensive scheme of sharing the wealth has been really good to the Raptors this season. The Cavs have been a subpar defensive team, so scoring on them might not be difficult. However, the Raptors should still stick with the offense that has worked and carried them to this point. If the Raptors let all their guys get going early there is almost no chance the Cavs are going to be able to extinguish the Raptors fiery offense.
Prediction
We will likely see Tristan Thompson return to the Cavs rotation because he looked really good in game 7 versus the Pacers. Thompson can give the Raptors a lot of problems defensively and on the glass, but at the end of the day it comes down to LeBron James. If the Raptors figure out they cannot put more than one help defender on LeBron and not leave any three-point shooter open the Raptors should have a chance to win this series. The Raptors have 10 really good players. The Cavs do not. I would expect this to be a long and drawn out series because LeBron is insanely good. In game 7 at home in the ACC where the Raptors are 36-7 (including the playoffs) in that building, they will eliminate LeBron James. If this happens maybe the Raptors will finally start getting a little bit of respect from American media.