ECSF: P1 | (1) Toronto Raptors vs Cleveland Cavaliers (4) | TIED 0-0

[Meeksology]

Man this board is really going downhill. All the massive crowd of Raptors fans jump down your throat if you have a negative opinion of them.

Sorry demar DeRozan **** the bed last year against the Cavs in the playoffs. You lost tucker, Joseph, and Powell regressed. Those guys were replaced by rookie OG, siakam, and FVV picking up a bigger role. I'm sorry i don't see the huge improvement you guys see.

Damn dude it's so annoying. If you have anything bad to say about them, you get quoted 16 times with personal attacks. Its **** basketball man, get a life.

We have the biggest fan base on realgm.
Getting quoted 16 times by raps fans is prolly equivalent to being quoted 2 or 3 times by fans of another team. It's nothing personal.

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[SFour]

I would reply to this Pizza guy that last year the Raps looked completely different, the bench mob did not exist + the Cavs had Kyrie & Home court but he'll just start crying that he gets replied to on a forum.

His analysis is Shaq-level bad.

And when the Cavs win in 6 we can have this same convo next playoffs whichever new team lebron is on

Well Raptors are decently favoured to win the series.....Cavs are +185 so if you put $500 down the return is $1425. You can make even more money if you pick Cavs in 6......free money right.

[NickAnderson]

Man, shut this thread down till the game.


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[Raps in 4]

Man this board is really going downhill. All the massive crowd of Raptors fans jump down your throat if you have a negative opinion of them.

Sorry demar DeRozan **** the bed last year against the Cavs in the playoffs. You lost tucker, Joseph, and Powell regressed. Those guys were replaced by rookie OG, siakam, and FVV picking up a bigger role. I'm sorry i don't see the huge improvement you guys see.

Damn dude it's so annoying. If you have anything bad to say about them, you get quoted 16 times with personal attacks. Its **** basketball man, get a life.

https://stats.nba.com/lineups/advanced/?sort=NET_RATING&dir=1&Season=2017-18&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&CF=MIN*G*200

But you "don't see the huge improvement".

[mowcrowbar]

Man this board is really going downhill. All the massive crowd of Raptors fans jump down your throat if you have a negative opinion of them.

Sorry demar DeRozan **** the bed last year against the Cavs in the playoffs. You lost tucker, Joseph, and Powell regressed. Those guys were replaced by rookie OG, siakam, and FVV picking up a bigger role. I'm sorry i don't see the huge improvement you guys see.

Damn dude it's so annoying. If you have anything bad to say about them, you get quoted 16 times with personal attacks. Its **** basketball man, get a life.

Even you can see why you are getting quoted? That is a baseless claim that can be factually proven otherwise. Most simply, 51 to 59.

I guess the warriors got worse as well. Regular season is irrelevant rockets won more than golden state, do you consider them favorites as well?

Your point was that the raptors got worse or did not noticeably improve from last season because they lost CJ and PJ- false. The bench bailed out Toronto all season long, just as they did in game 6. It's lazy just to blanket everything by saying "derozan sucks, he chokes." I'm not saying Toronto are favourites over Cleveland, but they sure as hell got better and the Cavs have gotten much worse than last year.

Also, Curry missed 31 games this season, which is why their record suffered.

[jonjames]

Raptors have the best bench, but if Ty Lue goes with what he saw in that stretch LeBron was on the bench today, the Hill-Love pick and pop with the left side of the floor cleared out so Love can pop into a wide open corner will murk that bench's production. If anyone can blow that up and get over the screen it's FVV, but it's gonna be tough. If they're going to that in the 2nd quarter he'll be gassed by the 4th. But even still it's either Cavs in 6 or raptors in 7. The raps are that good. They're legit one of the best teams LeBron has had to face in the East in years. Possibly as good as the 2013 Pacers.

That Heat bias no?

2013 Pacers: 49-32 / 3.34 SRS / 20th offense / 1st defense
2018 Raptors: 59-23 / 7.29 SRS / 2nd offense / 5th defense

Just because those Pacers took the 66 win Heat to 7 doesn't mean they're anywhere near as good as this year's Raptors. And for comparison's sake let's compare with the 2014 number 1 seed Indiana.

2014 Pacers: 56-26 / 3.63 SRS / 23rd offense / 1st defense

No comparison. This year's Raptors are MUCH better than those Pacer teams that battled with the Heat in the ECF. Not as good defensively but still elite in their own right however their offense is WAAAAAY better than those Pacer teams' offenses. The Raps this year are comparable statistically to the 2009 and 2010 Orlando Magic and one of those Magic teams went to the Finals.

[DROB27]

Cavs would beat every team besides warriors and rockets but keep pushing that narrative

Are you kidding me?

They barely won Game 7 at home against the freakin' Pacers....

Yea i don’t understand that one bit..

The Cavs are super overrated

[Benedict_Boozer]

Lebron always gets a road win. So I think you are looking at 6 or 7 games. Will be a tight series. To break through raps will have to win in Cleveland imo


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[hype_2004]

Lebron will have to play 45+ minutes for the Cavs to win, will he sustain that superhuman effort without succumbing to eventual fatigue? The Raps are the superior TEAM, but Lebron is the Superior player something's got to give! I love my Raptors but this is Lebron and he will get all the help he can get not from his teammates but his appointed angels on pinstripes, Cavs in 6, Silver will not want game 7 go to Toronto.

[jonjames]

Man this board is really going downhill. All the massive crowd of Raptors fans jump down your throat if you have a negative opinion of them.

Sorry demar DeRozan **** the bed last year against the Cavs in the playoffs. You lost tucker, Joseph, and Powell regressed. Those guys were replaced by rookie OG, siakam, and FVV picking up a bigger role. I'm sorry i don't see the huge improvement you guys see.

Damn dude it's so annoying. If you have anything bad to say about them, you get quoted 16 times with personal attacks. Its **** basketball man, get a life.

Even you can see why you are getting quoted? That is a baseless claim that can be factually proven otherwise. Most simply, 51 to 59.

I guess the warriors got worse as well. Regular season is irrelevant rockets won more than golden state, do you consider them favorites as well?

Wrong. Regular season DOES matter. It's not the end all be all but in most cases the regular season shows how good a team is. And the Warriors still won 58 games this year. A 58 win season is a great season and that's in spite of all the injuries they had and they were coasting as well. Many people thought the Cavs were just coasting this year and that they would flip the switch once the playoffs started but nope, they were all wrong. The Cavs are just not good this year as evidenced by them being taken to 7 by the 5th seeded Pacers. You can't say that the regular season is irrelevant here when the Cavs are still playing on a similar level in the playoffs as they did in the regular season. Last year's Cavs flipped the switch by sweeping the Pacers in their first round series. This year is different and the Cavs have declined greatly.

[jonjames]

Lebron always gets a road win. So I think you are looking at 6 or 7 games. Will be a tight series. To break through raps will have to win in Cleveland imo


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He didn't get any road wins last year against Golden State. Also the Cavs this year are far worse than the Cavs of the past 3 years so you can't look at their past performances and think that will apply to this series. The Raptors are tied with the Rockets with the best home record in the NBA at 34-7. But we will see.

[HiMyNameIsTrey]

If FVV can be healthy enough and bench plays like they did all season then Raptors have a very good chance of advancing. Raptors reach their potential when they play smart, team ball and don't play tentative. We don't need Derozan to try to score 30 pts. He just needs to play smart, take good shots, and find open guys. If we revert to 2015/2016 Raptors-era ball then we will lose. Even if things are clicking I can't even say that we'll beat Lebron. Lebron has just been so dominant that I have to see it myself to believe that we can beat him.

And to the guy who brought up losing Cory Joseph as if that somehow made us worse:

[LightTheBeam]

Man this board is really going downhill. All the massive crowd of Raptors fans jump down your throat if you have a negative opinion of them.

Sorry demar DeRozan **** the bed last year against the Cavs in the playoffs. You lost tucker, Joseph, and Powell regressed. Those guys were replaced by rookie OG, siakam, and FVV picking up a bigger role. I'm sorry i don't see the huge improvement you guys see.

Damn dude it's so annoying. If you have anything bad to say about them, you get quoted 16 times with personal attacks. Its **** basketball man, get a life.

https://stats.nba.com/lineups/advanced/?sort=NET_RATING&dir=1&Season=2017-18&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&CF=MIN*G*200

But you "don't see the huge improvement".

The 4th best lineup (1 higher than Raptors mind you) is J.Barea, Y.Ferrell, D.Harris, D.Nowitzki, D.Powell. Using this as the end all be all is a bit of a joke, wouldnt you agree?

[LightTheBeam]

Even you can see why you are getting quoted? That is a baseless claim that can be factually proven otherwise. Most simply, 51 to 59.

I guess the warriors got worse as well. Regular season is irrelevant rockets won more than golden state, do you consider them favorites as well?

Your point was that the raptors got worse or did not noticeably improve from last season because they lost CJ and PJ- false. The bench bailed out Toronto all season long, just as they did in game 6. It's lazy just to blanket everything by saying "derozan sucks, he chokes." I'm not saying Toronto are favourites over Cleveland, but they sure as hell got better and the Cavs have gotten much worse than last year.

Also, Curry missed 31 games this season, which is why their record suffered.

Actually that was never my argument. My argument was that "I don't see the huge improvement you guys do". Did the Raptors get better, absolutely. Hence why you will lose in 6 instead of being swept.

[LightTheBeam]

Even you can see why you are getting quoted? That is a baseless claim that can be factually proven otherwise. Most simply, 51 to 59.

I guess the warriors got worse as well. Regular season is irrelevant rockets won more than golden state, do you consider them favorites as well?

Wrong. Regular season DOES matter. It's not the end all be all but in most cases the regular season shows how good a team is. And the Warriors still won 58 games this year. A 58 win season is a great season and that's in spite of all the injuries they had and they were coasting as well. Many people thought the Cavs were just coasting this year and that they would flip the switch once the playoffs started but nope, they were all wrong. The Cavs are just not good this year as evidenced by them being taken to 7 by the 5th seeded Pacers. You can't say that the regular season is irrelevant here when the Cavs are still playing on a similar level in the playoffs as they did in the regular season. Last year's Cavs flipped the switch by sweeping the Pacers in their first round series. This year is different and the Cavs have declined greatly.

So the Cavs going 7 with the Pacers means the Cavs greatly declined. But the Raptors going 6 with the much worse Wizards shouldnt matter?

Had the Raptors swept the Wizards, I would be signing a different tune. But the Wizards limped into the post season, had chemistry issues all year, and still took you guys to 6. It quite possibly could have been 7 if Otto never gets injured.

[Warchant]

Lebron always gets a road win. So I think you are looking at 6 or 7 games. Will be a tight series. To break through raps will have to win in Cleveland imo


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LB or the Cavs?

[Warchant]

I guess the warriors got worse as well. Regular season is irrelevant rockets won more than golden state, do you consider them favorites as well?

Wrong. Regular season DOES matter. It's not the end all be all but in most cases the regular season shows how good a team is. And the Warriors still won 58 games this year. A 58 win season is a great season and that's in spite of all the injuries they had and they were coasting as well. Many people thought the Cavs were just coasting this year and that they would flip the switch once the playoffs started but nope, they were all wrong. The Cavs are just not good this year as evidenced by them being taken to 7 by the 5th seeded Pacers. You can't say that the regular season is irrelevant here when the Cavs are still playing on a similar level in the playoffs as they did in the regular season. Last year's Cavs flipped the switch by sweeping the Pacers in their first round series. This year is different and the Cavs have declined greatly.

So the Cavs going 7 with the Pacers means the Cavs greatly declined. But the Raptors going 6 with the much worse Wizards shouldnt matter?

Had the Raptors swept the Wizards, I would be signing a different tune. But the Wizards limped into the post season, had chemistry issues all year, and still took you guys to 6. It quite possibly could have been 7 if Otto never gets injured.

Wash has more star power than Indy

[Kabookalu]

I guess the warriors got worse as well. Regular season is irrelevant rockets won more than golden state, do you consider them favorites as well?

Wrong. Regular season DOES matter. It's not the end all be all but in most cases the regular season shows how good a team is. And the Warriors still won 58 games this year. A 58 win season is a great season and that's in spite of all the injuries they had and they were coasting as well. Many people thought the Cavs were just coasting this year and that they would flip the switch once the playoffs started but nope, they were all wrong. The Cavs are just not good this year as evidenced by them being taken to 7 by the 5th seeded Pacers. You can't say that the regular season is irrelevant here when the Cavs are still playing on a similar level in the playoffs as they did in the regular season. Last year's Cavs flipped the switch by sweeping the Pacers in their first round series. This year is different and the Cavs have declined greatly.

So the Cavs going 7 with the Pacers means the Cavs greatly declined. But the Raptors going 6 with the much worse Wizards shouldnt matter?

Had the Raptors swept the Wizards, I would be signing a different tune. But the Wizards limped into the post season, had chemistry issues all year, and still took you guys to 6. It quite possibly could have been 7 if Otto never gets injured.

And things would have ended earlier if Fred didn't get hurt.

[everdiso]

Regular Season

TOR: +7.8ppg (2nd), +7.6netrtg (3rd)
CLE: +0.9ppg (14th), +1.0netrtg (13th)

Post Trade Deadline

TOR: +7.8ppg (4th), +8.1netrtg (4th)
CLE: +3.9ppg (7th), +4.0netrtg (9th)

Playoffs

TOR: +2.0ppg (6th), +3.5netrtg (6th)
CLE: -5.7ppg (12th), -4.2netrtg (11th)

[LightTheBeam]

Wrong. Regular season DOES matter. It's not the end all be all but in most cases the regular season shows how good a team is. And the Warriors still won 58 games this year. A 58 win season is a great season and that's in spite of all the injuries they had and they were coasting as well. Many people thought the Cavs were just coasting this year and that they would flip the switch once the playoffs started but nope, they were all wrong. The Cavs are just not good this year as evidenced by them being taken to 7 by the 5th seeded Pacers. You can't say that the regular season is irrelevant here when the Cavs are still playing on a similar level in the playoffs as they did in the regular season. Last year's Cavs flipped the switch by sweeping the Pacers in their first round series. This year is different and the Cavs have declined greatly.

So the Cavs going 7 with the Pacers means the Cavs greatly declined. But the Raptors going 6 with the much worse Wizards shouldnt matter?

Had the Raptors swept the Wizards, I would be signing a different tune. But the Wizards limped into the post season, had chemistry issues all year, and still took you guys to 6. It quite possibly could have been 7 if Otto never gets injured.

Wash has more star power than Indy

"Star power" is overrated, if you don't have elite star power. Theres a huge difference between Warriors/Rockets star power, and Raptors/Washington star power. Wizards bench is also putrid, Pacers have one of the best benches in the league.

Bojan won Indi a game. Indiana almost had 7 players average double figures for the series. Every single guy they put on the court can hit 3's and defend. Indiana would beat Wizards in 5, 6 at most.

Like I said, should be an interesting series. I see FVV and your bench mob winning a game for you. I also see Derozan/Lowry winning a game for you. Beyond that, its going to get tough. And one thing that you guys said is OG is your best defender, but hes also a huge liability on offense. And you don't stretch the floor like Indiana did. Its easy to double off OG to help on Derozan or Lowry, same can't be said doubling off Bojan to help on Dipo.