Series Thread: 2nd Round: Cleveland Cavs vs Toronto Raptors

[bksballer89]

If the key to this series for Toronto is Carroll and Patterson playing well, Toronto is royally fucked.

Basically. They also need to play better defense. But man Patrick Patterson sucks. Can you imagine if they had a shooter in his role who can actually make those looks? The Heat version of James Johnson is much better than Patterson. I understand you guys had a different JJ last year though.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Basically. They also need to play better defense. But man Patrick Patterson sucks. Can you imagine if they had a shooter in his role who can actually make those looks? The Heat version of James Johnson is much better than Patterson. I understand you guys had a different JJ last year though.

Toronto's been near the bottom in postseason 3pt% every year they've made the playoffs this decade. The fact they've been to the postseason 4 years straight and haven't properly addressed that in an era when the 3 is everything is pretty much the reason they have a) struggled against weaker teams and b) not been able to look serious vs. the Cavs.

Given that they pretty much have to blow it up after this season, that's a waste.

 

[Black Adam]

View attachment 159052
to the LeBron James haters....just grab a beer and a relax..

to the LeClown dick-riders. better win the title...and no, we ain't talking about LAST year...

 

[Black Adam]

funny how WiggityWack's gonna troll everybody with LeClown like it's gonna upset anyone. we've pretty much ALL said they'll get outta the East...

it's what'll happen to him in the finals that i'm waiting for...

 

[gordontrue]

Well, I was wrong about Game 1. Happy to be wrong.

The most encouraging part was after the game hearing the players talk about how they need to clean things up and be better for game 2. The danger after a game like this is getting overly confident, but it doesn't sound like that's gonna happen.

 

[gordontrue]

Craptors cut the lead then play dumbo ball and let the Cavs go on a scoring binge. About as dumb as the Pacers were

Toronto doesn't communicate on defense at all. Another DUMBFUCK team like the Pacers.

Typical Eastern Conference. Buch of ham and Eggers should be in the D-league

Something tells me that to you any success by the Cavs will always be about the other team sucking.

 

[gordontrue]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/tristan-thompson-reportedly-broke-khloe-193613460.html
@gordontrue @Shanemansj13 @lebron23james

check it out!!!!! good news!!!

lol...just another example of Tristan bringing his A-Game when it matters most.

 

[WiggyRuss]

Well, I was wrong about Game 1. Happy to be wrong.

The most encouraging part was after the game hearing the players talk about how they need to clean things up and be better for game 2. The danger after a game like this is getting overly confident, but it doesn't sound like that's gonna happen.

the Cavs are at their best when they play fast, and have some fun and are making plays. That steal/off the glass/alley oop really set the tone for the game.......you had that play, Shumperts dunk, Kyrie's DISGUSTING cross over on Lowry, LeBron with the beer....when they are playing well and playing fast and having fun it just looks different.

Really fun game to watch. Those are the games where you are watching on TNT- playoffs- vs. a team like the Raptors- where you really appreciate LeBron and the Cavs and just how great a ride this has been.

 

[WiggyRuss]

@gordontrue @Shanemansj13 what do you guys think of Kyrie going for a post-season career high in assists last night?

After having zero assists in Game 4 against the Pacers- i thought it was encouraging. They need him to be able to distribute and be a threat to make plays that way- instead of just scoring. Its a delicate balance for him though and i guess depends on how the defense is playing him.

When Kyrie has 20+ points and 10 assists like last night- the Cavs wont be losing too many games when he does that.

 

[gordontrue]

He had some interesting stuff to say about it post-game.

He was actually surprised that it was a playoff career high and he said he hoped that'll change going forward. But he also said that it just depends on how the defense plays. Sometimes he's in a position to hit his teammates for shots, sometimes he's in a position to pass to someone who then has an opportunity to pass to someone for an open shot. And sometimes he's in a position to where he needs to take a shot. He said as long as the right play is being made and they are winning, he's good with it.

But I agree generally, that the more Kyrie adds playmaking to his skill-set, the more dangerous the Cavs become.

 

[trojanfan12]

Yeah his post was so stupid like we expected Cleveland to lose this game

Just typical Wiggy bullshit of making up shit no one said and responding to it. That's why that post now resides in a much more appropriate thread.

Let's Just Make Shit Up

 

[WiggyRuss]

He had some interesting stuff to say about it post-game.

He was actually surprised that it was a playoff career high and he said he hoped that'll change going forward. But he also said that it just depends on how the defense plays. Sometimes he's in a position to hit his teammates for shots, sometimes he's in a position to pass to someone who then has an opportunity to pass to someone for an open shot. And sometimes he's in a position to where he needs to take a shot. He said as long as the right play is being made and they are winning, he's good with it.

But I agree generally, that the more Kyrie adds playmaking to his skill-set, the more dangerous the Cavs become.

its a natural progression with him too.....

some nights you will see LeBron play a lot more on the ball and facilitate--- it seemed like Kyrie was on the ball quite a bit last night.

I just like that it makes him less predictable if he can make plays like that.....but i think you make a good point - it really depends a lot on how the defense plays him.

In the Indiana series the Pacers seemed content to stay home on the shooters and make Kyrie and LeBron beat them more one-on-one- hence less assists from KI.

The Raptors seemed to double Kyrie more - hence him passing out of the double team- and the guys were knocking down shots.

 

[trojanfan12]

The Cavs D is still not good, but it's not a big deal against these teams so far because they just outscore them.
My guess is they'd lose to these Rockets, and Warriors will expose them in every way possible.

^^^This^^^

I said before the playoffs started (as did others) that the Cavs are good enough on offense that they can get out of the East without any defensive improvement. But that they could be in trouble against teams like the Warriors and Spurs (especially the Warriors) who can match or exceed their offensive output while also playing good defense.

I thought the Cavs defense was a little better than it has been. The Raptors did miss some open looks, but some of that had to do with the Cavs making them a little bit uncomfortable on offense.

What I saw that would be concerning if I were a Cavs fan was that they kept letting the Raptors back in the game. If the Cavs were playing even close to the level of defense they played last year, this would have been about a 25 point win for them.

 

[trojanfan12]

Only way Toronto can honestly make this interesting is if Carroll and Patterson can produce more and hit open looks in addition to Lowry and DeRozan playing well.

This was just one game so let's see how they perform in game 2. Would be nice to see them actually go toe to toe with Cleveland for once in a playoffs game away from Toronto

I thought Charles Barkley made a really good point last night. From a talent perspective, the Raptors can beat the Cavs. The problem is, the Raptors don't believe they can beat the Cavs.

Unless and until they can find a way to believe they can win the series, the best they can likely hope for is to push it to 6 games, imo.

 

[bksballer89]

I thought Charles Barkley made a really good point last night. From a talent perspective, the Raptors can beat the Cavs. The problem is, the Raptors don't believe they can beat the Cavs.

Unless and until they can find a way to believe they can win the series, the best they can likely hope for is to push it to 6 games, imo.

Yeah but I think their mindset totally change if they win a game in Cleveland. Getting completely outplayed is not helping them at all. After last night game, they probably had deja vu and had flashbacks to last year

 

[trojanfan12]

but JV looks soft. Love is looking like a much tougher player than JV

If memory serves, that's a point Shaq was making last night. He was talking about JV shooting fallaways instead of using his size to attack the rim. Shaq basically called him out for "not playing like a big."

I like Kevin Love, but if he looks tough compared to you, you played soft.

 

[Wamu]

When the series shifts to Toronto will the Cavs plane get detained @ the border again like last year?

 

[gordontrue]

If you guys want a good read, check out this thread from the beginning of last year's playoffs. Full of stuff about how LeBron is declining, Love is garbage, Cavs are better without Kyrie, LeBron will never win a title in Cle, etc, etc, etc.

 

[WiggyRuss]

When the series shifts to Toronto will the Cavs plane get detained @ the border again like last year?

lol, that was ridiculous.

Thompson is a Canadian citizen though......with how he has played against them, maybe if they can sneak LeBron across somehow thats all they would need? lol......

Everyone always focuses on LeBron's rest- but giving a guy like Thompson a week off- a guy that always plays and almost always plays against bigger/stronger opponents- certainly showed up as beneficial last night.

 

[DorianRo]

Something tells me that to you any success by the Cavs will always be about the other team sucking.

98 percent of the teams in the east DO suck. Its why I never understood why Lebron always needs a dream team around him.

His toughest competition for the last 6 years in the East were probably the Bulls a few years ago , who could never keep healthy players around and was hardly EVER at full strength in the playoffs.

Either Rose was always hurt, Gasol gets injured when they were up in the series, Noah got injured, Boozer had turf toe on year. Says a lot about how Weak the East is, when the best competition they had were at full healthy maybe HALF the percent of the time if that