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

[NCHeels2008]

it's never been laid out better for the Raps against Lebron than this. BTW does anyone else find it funny how good Crowder looks again now that he's out of Cleveland?

[jbk1234]

Basketball is all about matchups. Indy was just a bad matchup for Cleveland. I expect a very good performance vs the Raps.

Not to take away anything from the Pacers because they gave us a hell of a series (I wasn't sure we'd win today) but I feel like G. Hill had that defense figured out in Game 3. If he doesn't miss two games after getting hurt in that game, I feel like we might've closed this out in 5.

[mowcrowbar]

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.

That IS your bloody point then...

Your point was that the raptors got worse or did not noticeably improve from last season because they lost CJ and PJ

My point is this year your savior is FVV, last year your savior was Powell... You guys got better, you guys didn't get better enough for me to say you'll overtake the GOAT.

Indiana was 5 points away from overtaking the "GOAT." That's all I'm saying. LeBron is a one man show now. He has no help. Cleveland barely won today despite LeBron going on one of the most impressively performances in playoff history. I mean people like Stephen A Smith, who you seem to mimic very closely have a point, but, you can't just assume nothing significant changed from last year. As I said, CLE is favoured to win, but a game 7 either way is more based on fact.

[Kabookalu]

I've been saying all season long people are underestimating the effect Kyrie had on LeBron preserving his energy for the finals. In game 2 when LeBron came out looking like the best player of all time, scoring like 20 points in the first 6 minutes, he slowed down a bit thereafter (to a "pedestrian" 46 point effort). LeBron has been doing that previous playoff series too, but the difference this year is that he doesn't have Kyrie who can take over the reigns and continue widening that lead after those initial outbursts. In game 2 the Pacers slowly chipped away where they were in range of winning the game, but fell short. With a healthy Kyrie the Pacers would have never been close to even sniffing victory.

LeBron and the Cavaliers were meticulously trying hard enough that they wouldn't need to try for the rest of the game so that they can save energy for the Warriors. With no Kyrie LeBron's had to do the most heavylifting before the finals he's ever had to do since arriving back to Cleveland.

[everdiso]

"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.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/anunoog01.html#playoffs_per_minute::none

Per 36 in playoffs this year

.467 3pt%
1.9 3PM
.750 2p%
12.9 Pts

Any other incorrect statements from you?

HE shot 15 3's the entire series. Bojan shot 38 at 42%. Lol, you don't think theres a difference between the 2?

you said OG was a liability, but he takes and makes 3pters at a similar rate as Bojan.

per36

OG 4.8 3ptA, 37.1% (plyffs: 4.1 3ptA, 46.7%)
BB 5.6 3ptA, 40.2% (plyffs: 6.8 3ptA, 37.8%)

and as for "stretching the floor like indiana did":

TOR: 26.8 3pta/gm, 41.0% (reg season: 33.0 3pta/gm, 35.8%)
IND: 27.1 3pta/gm, 35.8% (reg season: 24.5 3pta/gm, 36.9%)

[iggymcfrack]

Its weird. I feel like Raptors are the better team and should definitely be favored. But I wouldn’t like their chances in a Game 7. And I can’t imagine them closing out LeBron in Cleveland in a Game 6. And I also don’t see the Cavs winning less games against Toronto than the Wizards did. So what do I pick???

Cleveland’s such a weird team. All season long the questions were “will they be able to pick up their defense?” and “does LeBron still really have an extra gear above everyone else come playoff time?”. The answer to both questions was emphatically yes. The defense was better than anyone could have expected and so was LeBron.

But the offense from the supporting players which hadn’t been that bad during the season just fell off a cliff. During the season, Cleveland was 5th in ORtg, 6th in 3-point percentage, and 4 of their supporting players averaged double figures. In the playoffs, they’ve been the worst team by ORtg, had the second worst 3-point percentage despite LeBron putting up one of the best offensive series of all time, and only one of their supporting players averaged double figures.

[NinjaBro]

I cant fall asleep because I am so depressed we have to play LBJ already in just round 2! Cavs are in my head. WE THE NORTH fear cavs more than houston or golden state combined!

You're a defeatist wasteman. Don't speak for all raps fans and lump us all together because we're nothing like you. Disgraceful

[jonjames]

Its weird. I feel like Raptors are the better team and should definitely be favored. But I wouldn’t like their chances in a Game 7. And I can’t imagine them closing out LeBron in Cleveland in a Game 6. And I also don’t see the Cavs winning less games against Toronto than the Wizards did. So what do I pick???

Cleveland’s such a weird team. All season long the questions were “will they be able to pick up their defense?” and “does LeBron still really have an extra gear above everyone else come playoff time?”. The answer to both questions was emphatically yes. The defense was better than anyone could have expected and so was LeBron.

But the offense from the supporting players which hadn’t been that bad during the season just fell off a cliff. During the season, Cleveland was 5th in ORtg, 6th in 3-point percentage, and 4 of their supporting players averaged double figures. In the playoffs, they’ve been the worst team by ORtg, had the second worst 3-point percentage despite LeBron putting up one of the best offensive series of all time, and only one of their supporting players averaged double figures.

You're just overrating the Cavs that's all. And a huge LOL @ teh Cavs winning a game 7 on the Raptors floor if it came down to that. As if you can trust Clarkson and crew to step up on the road after the pile of poo they laid in game 6 at Indy. 34 point loss... And Indy's not even an elite home team like the Raptors are! But don't worry it won't come down to that. This series is ending in 5, 6 at the absolute most.

[RaptorsLife]

Reason I wanted to play Cavs instead of pacers. The team who plays warriors is getting destroyed

You need other accomplishments to have a satisfying season.

2nd biggest accomplishment would be dethroning LeBron James

Unlike Celtics or Sixers. This raptors does not have superstar young players. Win now mode. This is perfect storm for us.

[LightTheBeam]

That IS your bloody point then...

My point is this year your savior is FVV, last year your savior was Powell... You guys got better, you guys didn't get better enough for me to say you'll overtake the GOAT.

Indiana was 5 points away from overtaking the "GOAT." That's all I'm saying. LeBron is a one man show now. He has no help. Cleveland barely won today despite LeBron going on one of the most impressively performances in playoff history. I mean people like Stephen A Smith, who you seem to mimic very closely have a point, but, you can't just assume nothing significant changed from last year. As I said, CLE is favoured to win, but a game 7 either way is more based on fact.

And as I continue to say, Indiana was a harder matchup for the Cavs than the Raptors. I also think this series will be movitation and a growing experience for their team. Guys like Hill, Love, JR, Korver should still have a lot left in the tank. If Tristan plays like he did today, thats big time. Sometimes it takes a few games for guys to wake up, and as bad as the Cavs supporting cast has been, I don't think they are all that terrible. I think this is the series they step it up and take some weight off the Kings back.

[LightTheBeam]

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/anunoog01.html#playoffs_per_minute::none

Per 36 in playoffs this year

.467 3pt%
1.9 3PM
.750 2p%
12.9 Pts

Any other incorrect statements from you?

HE shot 15 3's the entire series. Bojan shot 38 at 42%. Lol, you don't think theres a difference between the 2?

you said OG was a liability, but he takes and makes 3pters at a similar rate as Bojan.

per36

OG 4.8 3ptA, 37.1% (plyffs: 4.1 3ptA, 46.7%)
BB 5.6 3ptA, 40.2% (plyffs: 6.8 3ptA, 37.8%)

and as for "stretching the floor like indiana did":

TOR: 26.8 3pta/gm, 41.0% (reg season: 33.0 3pta/gm, 35.8%)
IND: 27.1 3pta/gm, 35.8% (reg season: 24.5 3pta/gm, 36.9%)

Per 36 numbers are useless. Bojan shot double the 3's as OG this year, and was more efficient doing so. They aren't on the same levels as shooters. Darren Collison shot the highest % this year from downtown, but nobody respects his shot like they do Curry. OG gets his 3's on wide open kick outs...

Also those numbers are inflated from Lowry shooting almost 8 3's per game during the season. You have the better 3pt shooter, but you don't really have to respect JV and Derozan from 3.

On the other hand the Pacers Center shot and made almost as many 3's as OG did this year.

[Prez]

I feel dirty thinking this because it's LeBron freaking James we're talking about but I honestly think there's a good chance Toronto destroys them. That isn't my prediction, I think the more likely outcome is a 6-7 game war, but I really would not be surprised if the Cavs got murked.

If the Raps could just show up and not make me look like an idiot for posting this, that'd be great.

[Inevitable]

Are people who think we are losing taking those awesome Vegas odds?

[WWSRD]

Wall and Beal were pretty damn good in Round 1 and still went down in 6 to the Raps.

I don't know how much better this Cleveland team is than the Wizards tbh. Mike Scott, Markieff Morris and Gortat would probably all start in Cleveland if they had them.

[Spens1]

The cav's barely got over the line against the pacers, they're going to get smashed. The only reason the cavs won is simply put, the pacers choked anyway.

I wasn't that impressed by Toronto against the Wizards either but they looked a lot more convincing that the Cav's and Lebron did.

Kevin Love has to actually show up at some point or they're screwed.

[Rayflow]

It makes me laugh when people question the impact of The Raptors bench let alone FVV, y’all clearly don’t watch the raps and your comebacks of “you’re gonna rely on a role player to beat lebron” is tiresome and have no leg to stand on other than the fact that y’all just copy and paste posts you read from skip bayless and all those other clowns. Can’t wait till the raps win, then it will shift to “lebron had no one to help him”

[Dupp]

it's never been laid out better for the Raps against Lebron than this. BTW does anyone else find it funny how good Crowder looks again now that he's out of Cleveland?

Does he look that good though? Still very limited and poor numbers but he seems to be trying more and a lot happier

[Young_Star11]

Raptors in 7. It's the Raptors, they don't make anything easy for themselves in the playoffs. That said, if they ever wanted a better chance to beat LeBron in the East, this is it. He's going to a better team next season or moving west.

[Dupp]

Are people who think we are losing taking those awesome Vegas odds?

I’ll checknout our local markets and probably bet on cavs in 7

[yoyoboy]

it's never been laid out better for the Raps against Lebron than this. BTW does anyone else find it funny how good Crowder looks again now that he's out of Cleveland?

RS in Utah:
11.8 ppg on 49.9% TS / 3.8 rpg / 1.5 apg / 1.2 topg

PS in Utah:
11.0 ppg on 50.8% TS / 4.0 rpg / 1.9 apg / 1.4 topg

But yep he looks so amazing.