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

SashaTheMachine · Post #341 » by **SashaTheMachine** » Mon May 16, 2016 5:07 am

Series preview of Cavs-Raps ECF:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ng71_uX0KE[/youtube]

PrinceV · Post #342 » by **PrinceV** » Mon May 16, 2016 5:12 am

It took Lowry until gm 7 of the semi ECF to get it going. For the Raps to win and make it when there best player wasn't doing so well for most of the first and second series speaks volume on how good the Raps are.

The Raps went through war and battles to make it to ECF. The Cavs basically had a easy first 2 series. The Raptors defeated a Paul George who was at his best in recent years and a very good Wade (a Dwade that was a threat from 3s). This ECF is probably Lebron's hardest opponent yet to get to the finals. Love and Kyrie haven't really been tested in the first 2 series. How Love and Kyrie handle adversity in the playoffs will truly tell if they can make it to the finals. We all know Lebron can get there, but he isn't 4 years younger that he can carry a team on his back.

If Raps can get to Love and Kyrie, the Raps can take Cle out. If Cle has Love and Kyrie are doing what they do in the first two series, it will be a short series for Raps. Lebron is going to be and do what Lebron does, we all know that he can't do it alone.

Romerowned · Post #343 » by **Romerowned** » Mon May 16, 2016 5:17 am

When was the last time a team swept their conference? 01 Lakers?

Kabookalu · Post #344 » by **Kabookalu** » Mon May 16, 2016 5:18 am

Aside from LeBron, the two players that will destroy us the most will probably be Kevin Love and Channing Frye. I don't know why, but we freakin' suck at defending jumpshooting big men.

JackedFinancier · Post #345 » by **JackedFinancier** » Mon May 16, 2016 5:20 am

Keep hating y'all. No worries there. Just watch and let your eyes witness a "surprisingly" super close & competitive series. I know you dont want to hear that - however we didn't win 56 games without reason. We're a tough team who grinds and wills our way to victory. Keep up the ignorance though - its unsurprising. Love it.

NBAfan3024 · Post #346 » by **NBAfan3024** » Mon May 16, 2016 5:23 am

Cavs in 5

Think Raps have too much pride to get swept as Cavs are due for at least one letdown.

mowcrowbar · Post #347 » by **mowcrowbar** » Mon May 16, 2016 5:27 am

Toronto won the regular season series, so a sweep is unlikely. Maybe a 6 game series favouring Cleveland.

KnightofHyrule · Post #348 » by **KnightofHyrule** » Mon May 16, 2016 5:27 am

Awesome fact. What do the Cavs, Raptors, Warriors and Thunder all have in common?

They still haven't lost 2 straight games this entire postseason.

JimmerAllStar · Post #349 » by **JimmerAllStar** » Mon May 16, 2016 5:29 am

The Cavs win game 1 and probably game 2, but the Rapts will win the series.

I consider Casey a defensive genius. He will get his guys to be more disciplined than the Pistons and Hawks at defending the 3-ball. And the Hawks exposed the Cavs for lack of interior defense. I do think Bis-B is quick enough to keep up with Double-T. Raptors win in 6.

mvpshaq32 · Post #350 » by **mvpshaq32** » Mon May 16, 2016 5:34 am

RoyceDa59 wrote:The Raptors match up well with the Cavs, and won 2 of 3 matchups in the regular season.

Carroll is the perfect defender to put on James, and Powell is the perfect defender to put on Irving. Lowry will also force Irving to work on both ends of the floor. I'm not sure if the Raptors have an answer for Kevin Love. If Valanciunas is healthy, I'm not sure the Cavs have an answer for him either, and the Raptors will be a formidable opponent. Toronto had a harder road to the conference finals than did Cleveland, although it took them 6 extra games to get there.

Lebron regularly torched Carroll last season's playoffs. He's still a great option, but he's not nearly strong enough to bump with Lebron. Stanley Johnson has 30 pounds on Carroll for god's sake and we saw how that went. But you can't really hope to contain him with just one defender anyways in the first place. Raptors don't have any other good perimeter guy that can switch onto Lebron or sub in for Carroll so that'll still be a main point of weakness.

I like the idea of Norman Powell guarding Kyrie, but Casey put him back on the pine in the second round so who knows if he'll play him this series. Although CoJo is a great defender as well, so if Powell doesn't get any minutes, I still feel comfortable knowing a competent defender is coming off the bench

I actually think JV being out is good for the Raptors because Cavs would've abused the **** out of him by stretching the floor. If Casey would start Biyombo and bring JV off the bench against the Cavs bench to purely score, that'd be great, but I don't think he has the balls to do that. Biyombo was clutch on both ends in one of the regular season victories the Raps had over the Cavs and teams with a good rim protector have historically given Lebron teams trouble.

NBAfan3024 · Post #351 » by **NBAfan3024** » Mon May 16, 2016 5:54 am

game 1 will be a great chance for raps with such a long layoff for the cavs.

Zvaart · Post #352 » by **Zvaart** » Mon May 16, 2016 6:02 am

JackedFinancier wrote:Keep hating y'all. No worries there. Just watch and let your eyes witness a "surprisingly" super close & competitive series. I know you dont want to hear that - however we didn't win 56 games without reason. We're a tough team who grinds and wills our way to victory. Keep up the ignorance though - its unsurprising. Love it.

Will JV be back for the series? Than we can talk.

If not, sorry, i don't think it will be close or competitive.

Benedict_Boozer · Post #353 » by **Benedict_Boozer** » Mon May 16, 2016 6:10 am

Congrats to the raps fans for making the conference finals. Getting through two 7 game series is no joke.

I'd expect the raps to play much better given everyone will be saying they will get rolled. No pressure and they have their top guards back to playing well.

Looking forward to Tuesday!

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WWSRD · Post #354 » by **WWSRD** » Mon May 16, 2016 6:12 am

Don't sleep on Toronto's defence. It's pretty damn good.

This is the series we find out how good the Cavs offence really is.

Benedict_Boozer · Post #355 » by **Benedict_Boozer** » Mon May 16, 2016 6:18 am

kib0yski wrote:Lowry on Lebron postgame "Lebron's probably one of the best players - besides Steph."

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Ehhh not super smart by Lowry there. One thing Lebron is real sensitive about is Steph Curry.

CLE has some beat writers that love drama and will definitely ask Lebron about that.

Will likely see angry Lebron this series when he hears that.

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hsgm · Post #356 » by **hsgm** » Mon May 16, 2016 6:31 am

Realistic objective fan here. We know the Raps have an injured Val, and the Cavs are running on all cylinders and their outsider 3 point shooters are pure fire right now. LeBron is LeBron and he's probably going to dominate. So let's be honest here: Raps in 4.

jpengland · Post #357 » by **jpengland** » Mon May 16, 2016 6:38 am

Cavs in 5. 4 if JV is out.

Sorry Raps fans but you limped by a heavily weakened Miami team (playing like a pick up team with guards at forward and forwards at C). Cavs are well rested and firing on all cylinders.

Kabookalu · Post #358 » by **Kabookalu** » Mon May 16, 2016 6:55 am

Not totally relevant, but there's a heavy representation from the 2011 draft in the ECF.

Kyrie Irving
Tristan Thompson
Jonas Valanciunas
Bismack Biyombo
Iman Shumpert
Cory Joseph

MS13 · Post #359 » by **MS13** » Mon May 16, 2016 7:21 am

PrinceV wrote:It took Lowry until gm 7 of the semi ECF to get it going. For the Raps to win and make it when there best player wasn't doing so well for most of the first and second series speaks volume on how good the Raps are.

The Raps went through war and battles to make it to ECF. The Cavs basically had a easy first 2 series. The Raptors defeated a Paul George who was at his best in recent years and a very good Wade (a Dwade that was a threat from 3s). This ECF is probably Lebron's hardest opponent yet to get to the finals. Love and Kyrie haven't really been tested in the first 2 series. How Love and Kyrie handle adversity in the playoffs will truly tell if they can make it to the finals. We all know Lebron can get there, but he isn't 4 years younger that he can carry a team on his back.

If Raps can get to Love and Kyrie, the Raps can take Cle out. If Cle has Love and Kyrie are doing what they do in the first two series, it will be a short series for Raps. Lebron is going to be and do what Lebron does, we all know that he can't do it alone.

Only thing I would correct is that Kyle Lowry actually played well way before game 7:

Game 7: 35 points, 7 Red, 9 Ast, 4 Stl
Game 6: 36 points, 4 Reb, 3 Ast
Game 5: 25 points, 10 Reb, 6 Ast, 3 Stl
Game 4: 10 points, 7 Reb, 9 Ast, 4 Stl
Game 3: 33 points, 2 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Stl

But yeah, it's a gruelling 7 games + overtimes. I'm just here hoping the Cavs somehow forgets how to play basketball because of that long break

heyrayray · Post #360 » by **heyrayray** » Mon May 16, 2016 7:22 am

Any word on Big Val?

Series Predictions