7:00 PM EST, TNT – Line: Cavaliers -7.5, Over/Under: 214
Lowry and DeRozan must step up after Game One’s 116-105 loss, in which they combined for a modest 39 points.
It’s not often that a Game Two is labeled as a must-win, but that’s precisely where the Toronto Raptors find themselves as they try to avoid falling into a 0-2 hole against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second entry of the Eastern Conference Semifinals from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. After being eliminated by the eventual NBA Champions in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, it’s safe to say that the Raptors (51-31, 3rd in Eastern Conference) had been chomping at the bit for another shot at the Cavs ever since, a notion that was exponentially heightened by their ambitious moves at the Trade Deadline. Toronto acquired veteran Power Forward Serge Ibaka (14.2 PTs, 45.9% FG, 39.8% 3FG, 6.8 REB, 0.7 AST, 1.4 BLK) and emerging Three & D specialist PJ Tucker (5.8 PTS, 40.6% FG, 40.0% 3FG, 5.4 REB, 1.1 AST, 1.3 STL) with the intention of beefing up their rotation, specifically in the event that they met LeBron and Co. once again in the Playoffs. As fate would have it, they would indeed get their wish, but after Game One’s one-sided affair, it’s become quite clear that Dwayne Casey’s charges should be careful what they wish for. Now let’s get this out of the way first; the 116-105 Cleveland victory wasn’t nearly as close as the final score would indicate, as the visiting side trailed by as many as twenty-five points at one point in the Second Half. On the surface, it didn’t appear to be a poor performance for a team that shot a solid 10-of-26 from beyond the arc (38.5%), calmly netted 17-of-20 free-throws (85.0%), and outscored the hosts 44-36 in the Paint, while dishing out twenty-two assists in comparison to committing a dozen turnovers. Casey’s dynamic duo of DeMar DeRozan (27.3 PTS, 46.7% FG, 5.2 REB, 3.9 AST, 1.1 STL) and Kyle Lowry (22.4 PTS, 46.4% FG, 41.2% 3FG, 4.8 REB, 7.0 AST, 1.5 STL) accounted for thirty-nine points on a stellar 14-of-29 shooting, while Ibaka added fifteen points with Tucker providing thirteen off the Bench. Hell, the Reserves as a whole outscored Cleveland’s by a whopping twenty-two points. So what exactly happened to the Raptors, you ask? This is a case where the numbers do in fact lie, folks, for the majority of Toronto’s production came in mop-up duty at the end of the contest; the visiting side trailed 30-18 at the end of the First Quarter, with the divide stretching to twenty-two entering the final stanza. Furthermore, the Cavs proved uniquely adept at capitalizing on the few mistakes their counterparts made, turning twelve turnovers into eighteen points, while outscoring them 20-16 in Transition. With all that said, for a team that was supposed to have gotten bigger, meaner, and more physically imposing after the Trade Deadline, Casey’s troops resembled Barney more than their namesake from the Jurassic Park franchise, as they had no answer for their opposition, particularly when they transitioned to smaller, quicker lineups. This was the case last year, when they were disposed of rather easily in six games, as they were outscored by a sizable 15.5 points per contest, while shooting a poor 43.9% from the field, including 28.9% from downtown. And would you like to know what Toronto shot in Game One Monday Night? 43.8%, serving as proof that the more things change, the more they stay the same. If these guys are supposed to be dinosaurs, then the Cavaliers must be the meteor on it’s way towards wiping them out…
LeBron hammered the Raptors with 35 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists, while nearly enjoying a sideline beverage in Game One’s blowout victory.
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers’ (51-31, 2nd in Eastern Conference) relationship with the Raptors seems like that old Gatorade commercial in which the kids are singing “Anything you can do I can do better”. After humbling them in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, Cleveland proceeded to take three out of four of their Regular Season meetings before embarrassing them in Monday Night’s 116-105 drubbing of their northern neighbors. As we stated before, Tyronn Lue’s charges pretty much bested their counterparts in just about every category. Toronto shot 38.5% from downtown, but Cleveland shot 41.2%, outscoring them by twelve points in that regard. The Raptors knocked down seventeen free-throws, but the Cavs netted 24-of-29 attempts from the Charity Stripe. The visitors dished out twenty-two assists, but the home side shared the wealth with twenty-six dimes. Both teams kept things largely clean with twelve turnovers apiece, but LeBron and Co. parlayed their opponent’s misfortune into eighteen points opposed to thirteen for the visiting side. DeRozan and Lowry combined for thirty-nine points, while LeBron James (26.4 PTS, 54.8% FG, 36.3% 3FG, 8.6 REB, 8.7 AST, 1.2 STL) alone nearly matched their total, scoring a game-high thirty-five points on an efficient 13-of-23 shooting from the field (56.5%), including 2-of-5 from three (40.0%), while adding ten rebounds, four assists, a steal, and a block. The four-time MVP seemed to be toying with them at one point, even stopping himself from drinking a beer that he grabbed from a vendor after falling out of bounds. Oh, and to compound matters, Kyrie Irving (25.2 PTS, 47.3% FG, 40.1% 3FG, 3.2 REB, 5.2 AST, 1.2 STL) and Kevin Love (19.0 PTS, 42.7% FG, 37.3% 3FG, 11.1 REB, 1.9 AST, 0.9 STL) added another forty-two points, eleven rebounds, and eleven assists. So basically, what we’re saying is that there is no reason to think that this series won’t come to the same conclusion as it’s predecessor a year ago. Granted, after making quick work of the Indiana Pacers in the previous Round, the Cavaliers benefitted from being on the only team in the Eastern Conference to sweep their opponent, enjoying a week of rest. Everyone else in the East went at least six games, including Toronto who struggled to put away the Milwaukee Bucks. After Monday’s debacle, the Cavs have now defeated the Raptors by a stunning margin of 24.7 points per game in their last four Playoff meetings at Quicken Loans Arena, while going 16-1 at home in the Postseason against their compatriots in the East over the past three years. James, as you can imagine is starting to ascend rather quickly up the ladder of accolades, scoring at least thirty points in eighty-eight Playoff contests, tying Kobe Bryant for second-most all-time, and needs just twenty-five points to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for second-place on the league’s all-time Postseason Scoring List.