ECF: | (1) Cleveland Cavaliers vs (2) Toronto Raptors | CLE 2-1

[dreamshake]

Hasn't won any without Wade.

So you can make that argument.

Yeah, Wade was clearly carrying him. Now he'll just have to sit at home and watch Wade the rest of these playoffs.

Wade didn't pass the test this round, lets see if Lebron does.

That being said, Kobe had the same argument playing with Shaq. So it is a very valid point.

Until he wins one without him.

The difference is that Shaq was the dominant player on that team. LeBron was the dominant player on his.

Stats, MVPs, Finals MVPs. Lots of evidence there to support this.

[jswede]

Defensively the Hawks are overrated too. They had no real shot blocking centre and interior defense.

They were the 2nd best defense in the league by a pretty large margin over an 82 game sample size, largely on the strength of their interior defense. Millsap finished 5th in DPOY voting and Horford got some votes as well.

http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/teamstats/_/sort/defensiveEff

And 19-11 vs the west

[The_Ghost_of_JB]

Cavs in 4. Raps and Cavs are never even remotely on the same level.

[BK nets BK]

Cavaliers are so lucky. Easiest road to the finals ever

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[galeon110]

Season series was 2-1 Raptors, you butt hurt ignorant fans. It's hilarious how people who don't watch TOR play on a regular basis write them off so easily. If the Raps had Valanciunas, this game would AT LEAST go 6 games...


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[KnightofHyrule]

This is Cavs in 4 again

I m starting more and more to believe that regular season records don t mean much especially in the EC.I don t want to offend anyone s team here but the EC is still relatively weak and we all knew from the beginning of the season that only the Cavs were thought as serious contenders for the ring.it feels like it s the Cavs and seven other teams that are a good warmup on their road to the finals

Then why are the two best records in the East facing each other?

I wasn t talking about the order.I was talking about a team with 57 wins in the RG facing a 56 win team in the RG.And the gap between them is pretty big at least the way i see it.

They said the Raptors wouldn't make playoffs. - Raptors made it convincingly
Others said the Raptors wouldn't be higher than the 6th seed. - Raptors won the 2nd seed, missing out on the 1st seed by one game.
Then they said "Pacers in 7" - Raps won 4 games, not 3. Wrong.
Then they said....they ALL said "Heat in 6" - Raps won 4 games, not 2. Sorry, wrong again. Really wrong.
Now they all say "Cavs in 4" - They have the Raps winning 0 games.

Let's wait to see how big this "gap" is. Because every one made assumptions before and the Raptors proved them wrong. Again. and again. And again. And again. You'd think they'd learn to wait. Cavs CAN win this in 4. But would it surprise me if Raps win this in 6? No it wouldn't. Let's just wait and see. This could be 2016's version of the '04 Pistons, who proved everyone wrong. It took them 7 games to oust the Nets in the semis, and they demolished the Lakers in 5.

[jswede]

Cavaliers are so lucky. Easiest road to the finals ever

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Hey smart guy, who's the best team the Warriors have beat in the last 2 playoffs combined?

[dreamshake]

They said the Raptors wouldn't make playoffs. - Raptors made it convincingly
Others said the Raptors wouldn't be higher than the 6th seed. - Raptors won the 2nd seed, missing out on the 1st seed by one game.
Then they said "Pacers in 7" - Raps won 4 games, not 3. Wrong.
Then they said....they ALL said "Heat in 6" - Raps won 4 games, not 2. Sorry, wrong again. Really wrong.
Now they all say "Cavs in 4" - They have the Raps winning 0 games.

Let's wait to see how big this "gap" is. Because every one made assumptions before and the Raptors proved them wrong. Again. and again. And again. And again. You'd think they'd learn.

Huh, who said the Raptors wouldn't make the playoffs? Or that they wouldn't be higher than the 6th seed? Most of the preseason predictions I saw had them somewhere in the 2-4 range.

[BK nets BK]

Cavaliers are so lucky. Easiest road to the finals ever

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Hey smart guy, who's the best team the Warriors have beat in the last 2 playoffs combined?

The blazers would beat both pistons or raptors

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[KnightofHyrule]

They said the Raptors wouldn't make playoffs. - Raptors made it convincingly
Others said the Raptors wouldn't be higher than the 6th seed. - Raptors won the 2nd seed, missing out on the 1st seed by one game.
Then they said "Pacers in 7" - Raps won 4 games, not 3. Wrong.
Then they said....they ALL said "Heat in 6" - Raps won 4 games, not 2. Sorry, wrong again. Really wrong.
Now they all say "Cavs in 4" - They have the Raps winning 0 games.

Let's wait to see how big this "gap" is. Because every one made assumptions before and the Raptors proved them wrong. Again. and again. And again. And again. You'd think they'd learn.

Huh, who said the Raptors wouldn't make the playoffs? Or that they wouldn't be higher than the 6th seed? Most of the preseason predictions I saw had them somewhere in the 2-4 range.

Google 2015-16 standings predictions, and look through the comments. You'll see little 3's and a few 4s. But The 6s and 7s will outnumber them all. You'll even see standings list that don't even have the Raptors on it.

[gino_giode]

Season series was 2-1 Raptors, you butt hurt ignorant fans. It's hilarious how people who don't watch TOR play on a regular basis write them off so easily. If the Raps had Valanciunas, this game would AT LEAST go 6 games...


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Raps also had winning records against the Heat and Pacers during the regular season---2 very ugly 7 game series. Raps have been impressive though, but for the most part they have not been playing at regular season form. Maybe they turned the corner though?

Cavs had a losing record to the Hawks last season (Hawks were the best Eastern team in the regular season), and even a losing record to Detroit this year. Guess what, multiple sweeps.

Not an excuse for poor play, but I genuinely feel like the Cavs (especially LeBron) get bored in the regular season. They seemed to have made leaps in terms of on/off court chemistry in the last weeks of the season and throughout the first 2 rounds. Going in I certainly felt doom and gloom watching how **** the Cavs looked, but they look like world beaters right now.

Question is, do they just look good because their competition is ****? Or are they so good they make decent/good teams look ****?

I agree that with JV this would have been finished earlier, but what about the Heat without a healthy Whiteside (injured in 1st round)? Probably still go 7 games I feel. Unlike the Raps, the Heat rely so much on Whiteside for points and his inside presence. JV is 3rd fiddle for the Raps so they didn't really adjust as much.

[dreamshake]

Cavaliers are so lucky. Easiest road to the finals ever

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Hey smart guy, who's the best team the Warriors have beat in the last 2 playoffs combined?

The blazers would beat both pistons or raptors

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The Blazers were 0-4 against the Pistons and Raptors.

[BJGOAT3]

If JVal was healthy, I could see this series go on for 6 games or more. I would still pick the Cavs but it would stay competitive imo.

Without JVal, Toronto will struggle against the size of Cavaliers+ the shaky plays of Trash Broz won't be able to keep them up with the production of the red-hot Cleveland offence. Unless we suddenly see premier defensive scheme that shocks Cavs in the first game. As a rookie HC, Lou may have difficulty to adjust the offence in such a circumstance, giving Raptors some margin of error at their home court by stealing one of the first two.

However, I expect a gentleman's sweep.

[BK nets BK]

Hey smart guy, who's the best team the Warriors have beat in the last 2 playoffs combined?

The blazers would beat both pistons or raptors

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The Blazers were 0-4 against the Pistons and Raptors.

Because regular season records matter. Portland was playing way better in the playoffs and they kept up with a fully healthy warriors. Raptors on the other hand barely beat a injury plagued heat, but at the same time raptors have injuries of their own which further proves my point that the cavs will have the easiest path the the finals ever

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[Harcore Fenton Mun]

Yeah, Wade was clearly carrying him. Now he'll just have to sit at home and watch Wade the rest of these playoffs.

Wade didn't pass the test this round, lets see if Lebron does.

That being said, Kobe had the same argument playing with Shaq. So it is a very valid point.

Until he wins one without him.

The difference is that Shaq was the dominant player on that team. LeBron was the dominant player on his.

Stats, MVPs, Finals MVPs. Lots of evidence there to support this.

Shaq was very good in Miami, but he wasn't in his prime at that point.

Prime Lebron played with Shaq too, clearly near the end of his career. But still a funny coincidence.

Wade does have that extra ring though.

[ReKon]

Then why are the two best records in the East facing each other?

I wasn t talking about the order.I was talking about a team with 57 wins in the RG facing a 56 win team in the RG.And the gap between them is pretty big at least the way i see it.

They said the Raptors wouldn't make playoffs. - Raptors made it convincingly
Others said the Raptors wouldn't be higher than the 6th seed. - Raptors won the 2nd seed, missing out on the 1st seed by one game.
Then they said "Pacers in 7" - Raps won 4 games, not 3. Wrong.
Then they said....they ALL said "Heat in 6" - Raps won 4 games, not 2. Sorry, wrong again. Really wrong.
Now they all say "Cavs in 4" - They have the Raps winning 0 games.

Let's wait to see how big this "gap" is. Because every one made assumptions before and the Raptors proved them wrong. Again. and again. And again. And again. You'd think they'd learn.

I m just calling it like i see it.Like i said regular season means nothing right now.The Raps played against a 7 seed.I had them winning in 6.It shouldn t have gone to 7.It s 2 vs 7.You end these games

I will admit i expected the Heat to advance i think i had them in 6.You re saying that you d think they d learn.You are the ones who should be learning after the last two seasons and apparently you did which is good on it s own

But the reasons that people present here to say why the Raps can steal a game or two seem moot to me.The Cavs are rusty?They said the same thing before they faced the Hawks.Apparently the rusty Cavs just managed to break some 3 point records.DeMarre Carroll handling LeBron?Check what LeBron did to Carroll last season and how he manhandled both him and the Hawks on his own.Toronto did well to reach the ECF and i understand what a big chapter this is for Toronto basketball so i m not saying throw the white towel.Like you said we ll see how big the gap between the Cavs and the EC second best team is within the next weeks.

[The Miami Heat]

Nope

[KnightofHyrule]

Cavaliers are so lucky. Easiest road to the finals ever

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Hey smart guy, who's the best team the Warriors have beat in the last 2 playoffs combined?

The blazers would beat both pistons or raptors

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Lol Raptors clearly swept Blazers in the regular season, and if it wasn't for Chris Paul and Blake getting injured, Blazers wouldn't have made it out of the first round. Btw, Raptors swept that better Clippers team, winning by 11 and 18. 4-0 against the Clippers and Blazers.

Let me guess, regular season doesn't count? Lol. Blazers are fishing bro, and were extremely lucky to delay that trip by a week and a half. Lillard and McCollum are nice, but the Blazers depth cannot even be put in the same sentence as Toronto's.

[jswede]

Cavaliers are so lucky. Easiest road to the finals ever

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Hey smart guy, who's the best team the Warriors have beat in the last 2 playoffs combined?

The blazers would beat both pistons or raptors

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Toronto was 17-13 against the west and 2-0 vs Portland.

Detroit was 15-15 against the west and 2-0 vs Portland.

Portland was 15-15 against the east and 0-4 vs Detroit and Toronto.

[BK nets BK]

Nice records. Congrats. What do any of that have to do with the fact that the cavs have the easiest path to the finals?

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