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

[yoyoboy]

Already posted this in the LeBron thread, but I thought I'd post it here, too, since it's relevant.

I'm a little worried about how he's going to perform in this series. I saw a stat on Twitter that LeBron shot something like 30% from the field against Carroll in the postseason last year, along with 1/8 in the regular season when directly matched up against him. Add to that, the Raptors have guys like Patterson and James Johnson who can be switched onto him, and Bismack Biyombo manning the rim (and we all know
how LeBron struggled mightily against length at the rim at this stage of his career). The Raptors' defense has been fantastic as a whole this postseason.

I honestly expect this series to go 6-7 games, especially considering the Cavs' unsustainable 3-point shooting will most likely return to the mean following this 9 day rest period, which could break up their rhythm. The Cavs' defense has been horrible in the playoffs (per DRTG and shot contests per game) and they haven't shot well within the arc or even gotten to the line at a decent rate, coming in at 15/16 in the playoffs in FTr, just ahead of the Grizzlies. Insane 3-point shooting (and good rebounding, though Toronto ranks better in that area in the postseason) is essentially what's been allowing them to not only stay afloat, but sweep two series. If they go cold, the Cavs could have serious issues in this ECF and potentially even get upset, a la the 2009 ECF when they ran into a Magic team that was a terrible matchup for them after sweeping the exact same two teams they just did.

TLDR: The Raptors match up extremely well with the Cavs and if Cleveland's insane 3-point shooting regresses, they'll be in serious trouble in this ECF series.

[acidfrehley]

Sweep.

[NinjaBro]

Raps need to contain the 3 ball. They like to clog the paint and help out leaving shooters open in the perimeter. Game plan needs to change with the Cavs red hot shooting. Need to make the necessary adjustments or it could be over quick. Can''t play the same way we did against the Pacers and the Heat.

[jeeph]

The Cavs got the 1 seed on talent, not effort. The other teams would be out shooting the Cavs, out defending them and out hustling them, then you look at the scoreboard, and the Cavs are up by 2 at the half. GSW are the same way. The gap between tier 1 and tier 2 in the NBA is big. The Raps and OKC have starters that wouldn't even be in the Cavs or GSW playoff rotations.

Two ways that the Raps came take a game or two. If the Cavs play good then the Raps have to play great. Hope that the Cavs are average or cold and the Raps are hitting everything. Or Lowry and/or DD go off and win the game by themselves. Same with OKC but OKC has Durant and Westbrook who do go off like that often.

The match ups as issues as I see it.

Against TT you need strong guys that can rebound. The Raps have Bis and Val so he shouldn't be a big force on the boards like against other teams. But Love and Frye are the problems. The Raps have trouble against shooting bigs and those two are about good as it gets.

The other major issue is the Raps 3 point d, the Cavs can space the floor. The Raps already have trouble with that and it's the Cavs role player's specialty. It's a pick your poison against the Cavs, let Kyrie and Lebron get to the rim or collapse and give up outside looks.

The Cavs are at their best when Kyrie, Love or one of the role players are the best player that night. It allows Lebron to not press and just run the team. When he isn't looking to win the game by himself is when he can be considered the best player in the league still because he is still the best at making teammates better.

Kyrie is the Cavs X factor. If he is best player on the court any given night, I would take the Cavs even over GSW. Which means the Raps would have to play better than great to beat them if he is.

So the Raps have to shut everyone else down and leave Lebron one on one challenging him to score 40 and win by himself. Which he can do but gets tiring over a series. Otherwise I can't see this going more than 5 at most.

Predictions. Cavs come out cold the first quarter or half of game 1. But will win the second half so the Raps have to build up a big lead early to have a chance at the end. Game two the Cavs are hot and it is over early even if the score is close. Game three the Cavs continue and roll the Raps, too much firepower. Game four will be fought hard but it comes down to the 4th quarter and it's a star league, just as with game 1, the Cavs are a better 4th quarter team. Cavs in 4. 5 if the Raps come out hot in the first game and finish it or Lowry and/or DD go god mode for a game.

Nothing against the Raps, just like nothing against the Hawks or Pistons, they are good teams with the Pistons and Raps having hope for the future to get even better. But the Cavs are great and are playing great. The reality is the Raps are playing for pride, experience and trying to take a game or two. They can't conceivably beat the Cavs in a series as it is at the moment, their best hope is the Cavs beat themselves or don't take them seriously.

[Dupp]

Already posted this in the LeBron thread, but I thought I'd post it here, too, since it's relevant.

I'm a little worried about how he's going to perform in this series. I saw a stat on Twitter that LeBron shot something like 30% from the field against Carroll in the postseason last year, along with 1/8 in the regular season when directly matched up against him. Add to that, the Raptors have guys like Patterson and James Johnson who can be switched onto him, and Bismack Biyombo manning the rim (and we all know
how LeBron struggled mightily against length at the rim at this stage of his career). The Raptors' defense has been fantastic as a whole this postseason.

I honestly expect this series to go 6-7 games, especially considering the Cavs' unsustainable 3-point shooting will most likely return to the mean following this 9 day rest period, which could break up their rhythm. The Cavs' defense has been horrible in the playoffs (per DRTG and shot contests per game) and they haven't shot well within the arc or even gotten to the line at a decent rate, coming in at 15/16 in the playoffs in FTr, just ahead of the Grizzlies. Insane 3-point shooting (and good rebounding, though Toronto ranks better in that area in the postseason) is essentially what's been allowing them to not only stay afloat, but sweep two series. If they go cold, the Cavs could have serious issues in this ECF and potentially even get upset, a la the 2009 ECF when they ran into a Magic team that was a terrible matchup for them after sweeping the exact same two teams they just did.

TLDR: The Raptors match up extremely well with the Cavs and if Cleveland's insane 3-point shooting regresses, they'll be in serious trouble in this ECF series.

Nah you're stressing for no reason, We will win.

[PD28]

Excited to see how our guys match up against championship level competition

[Sorkoram]

Cavaliers in 5, as I'm not liking the matchup for the Raptors on either side of the ball.

[RCM88x]

Already posted this in the LeBron thread, but I thought I'd post it here, too, since it's relevant.

I'm a little worried about how he's going to perform in this series. I saw a stat on Twitter that LeBron shot something like 30% from the field against Carroll in the postseason last year, along with 1/8 in the regular season when directly matched up against him. Add to that, the Raptors have guys like Patterson and James Johnson who can be switched onto him, and Bismack Biyombo manning the rim (and we all know
how LeBron struggled mightily against length at the rim at this stage of his career). The Raptors' defense has been fantastic as a whole this postseason.

I honestly expect this series to go 6-7 games, especially considering the Cavs' unsustainable 3-point shooting will most likely return to the mean following this 9 day rest period, which could break up their rhythm. The Cavs' defense has been horrible in the playoffs (per DRTG and shot contests per game) and they haven't shot well within the arc or even gotten to the line at a decent rate, coming in at 15/16 in the playoffs in FTr, just ahead of the Grizzlies. Insane 3-point shooting (and good rebounding, though Toronto ranks better in that area in the postseason) is essentially what's been allowing them to not only stay afloat, but sweep two series. If they go cold, the Cavs could have serious issues in this ECF and potentially even get upset, a la the 2009 ECF when they ran into a Magic team that was a terrible matchup for them after sweeping the exact same two teams they just did.

TLDR: The Raptors match up extremely well with the Cavs and if Cleveland's insane 3-point shooting regresses, they'll be in serious trouble in this ECF series.

Nah you're stressing for no reason, We will win.

IMO its hard to base teams strength based off of postseason stats. It depends to much on matchups to be really viable. Both Indiana and Miami are average to very poor 3pt shooting teams, and Miami was very poor rebounding team outside of Whiteside.

Granted I think Biyombo will give TT trouble for the most part (certainly more than ATL), but I don't think its going to be a full neutralization like in the first round with Drummond. I mean the guy was still elite against GS during the Finals playing nearly 40min a game.

[SwaggyB]

The only hope I have for the raptors is that they continue their habit of playing up or down to the level of their competition. If they can play up to the cavs level consistently enough, maybe they can steal a close game or two, but anything beyond 4 more games is gravy for me. Haven't cared this much about the playoffs this far in, in.. well, pretty much ever.

[cammac]

Obviously the Cav's should be favored in the series but don't count the Raptors out to win some games and bloody up Cleveland. LeBron is the key to the success of Cleveland in this series if Carroll can nullify some of his success and JV can come back 3rd or 4th game the series will be close.

[everdiso]

sweeping 2 rounds is impressive but detroit and atlanta aren't exactly either great teams or full of big game performers. raps dropped a game each to those 2 teams in the regular season but that was only when they were home and cooled and resting their stars.

there's a decent argument as well that the raps getting pushed to 7gms in both rounds was more about them choking than the other teams beating them - yesterday's game was literally the first game all playoffs that the raps looked anything like the regular season raps, and the result was a blowout. If they've finally settled their nerves then you's have to ignore what they've looked like most of the playoffs because that's not them.

Cavs are the better team but the raps match up very well against them, even without Val. Raps have the edge at both guard positions and biyombo is at least a draw with thompson though he might have the edge there too. Lebron is obviously a huge edge over DMC but then again DMC is one of the few guys in the league that can trouble him one on one defensively.

Where I think the cavs have a huge advantage is Pat v Love. Love is better than him inside and out and Pat is gonnq have to have the series of his life to slow him down. And if Love and Fry keep raining 3s together it's gonna be tough sledding for the raps undermanned frontcourt, because you don't want bismack guarding the perimeter. The worst is that without Val the raps can't really punish those guys inside, either.

All in all I doubt it's a sweep. But the key to any dream of an upset might be game 1 - cavs are gonne be rusty and the raps have to go at them full speed right from the start. That's their big chance to steal home court back. Then they have to hope Val gets back sometime mid series.

[RatherUnique]

Already posted this in the LeBron thread, but I thought I'd post it here, too, since it's relevant.

I'm a little worried about how he's going to perform in this series. I saw a stat on Twitter that LeBron shot something like 30% from the field against Carroll in the postseason last year, along with 1/8 in the regular season when directly matched up against him. Add to that, the Raptors have guys like Patterson and James Johnson who can be switched onto him, and Bismack Biyombo manning the rim (and we all know
how LeBron struggled mightily against length at the rim at this stage of his career). The Raptors' defense has been fantastic as a whole this postseason.

I honestly expect this series to go 6-7 games, especially considering the Cavs' unsustainable 3-point shooting will most likely return to the mean following this 9 day rest period, which could break up their rhythm. The Cavs' defense has been horrible in the playoffs (per DRTG and shot contests per game) and they haven't shot well within the arc or even gotten to the line at a decent rate, coming in at 15/16 in the playoffs in FTr, just ahead of the Grizzlies. Insane 3-point shooting (and good rebounding, though Toronto ranks better in that area in the postseason) is essentially what's been allowing them to not only stay afloat, but sweep two series. If they go cold, the Cavs could have serious issues in this ECF and potentially even get upset, a la the 2009 ECF when they ran into a Magic team that was a terrible matchup for them after sweeping the exact same two teams they just did.

TLDR: The Raptors match up extremely well with the Cavs and if Cleveland's insane 3-point shooting regresses, they'll be in serious trouble in this ECF series.

If you're worried about Toronto, I don't know how the hell you think you're winning against OKC or GSW.

This is a 5 game series, man.

[Vee-Rex]

I think the Heat would've been an easier team for the Cavs to beat.

I'm really not worried about Carroll as I think his defense on LeBron is overhyped. Watching LeBron go against Butler or Kawhi, I can see how he gets really frustrated. It's not and never has been that way with Carroll.

This series is difficult to predict. I feel it could easily be a sweep, or it could be hard, grueling series. Toronto is gonna have to play smart defense, though.

[yoyoboy]

Already posted this in the LeBron thread, but I thought I'd post it here, too, since it's relevant.

I'm a little worried about how he's going to perform in this series. I saw a stat on Twitter that LeBron shot something like 30% from the field against Carroll in the postseason last year, along with 1/8 in the regular season when directly matched up against him. Add to that, the Raptors have guys like Patterson and James Johnson who can be switched onto him, and Bismack Biyombo manning the rim (and we all know
how LeBron struggled mightily against length at the rim at this stage of his career). The Raptors' defense has been fantastic as a whole this postseason.

I honestly expect this series to go 6-7 games, especially considering the Cavs' unsustainable 3-point shooting will most likely return to the mean following this 9 day rest period, which could break up their rhythm. The Cavs' defense has been horrible in the playoffs (per DRTG and shot contests per game) and they haven't shot well within the arc or even gotten to the line at a decent rate, coming in at 15/16 in the playoffs in FTr, just ahead of the Grizzlies. Insane 3-point shooting (and good rebounding, though Toronto ranks better in that area in the postseason) is essentially what's been allowing them to not only stay afloat, but sweep two series. If they go cold, the Cavs could have serious issues in this ECF and potentially even get upset, a la the 2009 ECF when they ran into a Magic team that was a terrible matchup for them after sweeping the exact same two teams they just did.

TLDR: The Raptors match up extremely well with the Cavs and if Cleveland's insane 3-point shooting regresses, they'll be in serious trouble in this ECF series.

If you're worried about Toronto, I don't know how the hell you think you're winning against OKC or GSW.

This is a 5 game series, man.

Well, matchups are important. We seem to have OKC's number whereas Toronto has an ideal defense to match up against LeBron, along with a PG who shreds us every time we play. Also, to be fair, Toronto did win more games than OKC in the RS, so let's not act as if they're vastly inferior.

Finally, I don't see any way the Cavs - or any team for that matter - beat Golden State, so I don't really need to get into that matchup.

[bmurph128]

Already posted this in the LeBron thread, but I thought I'd post it here, too, since it's relevant.



TLDR: The Raptors match up extremely well with the Cavs and if Cleveland's insane 3-point shooting regresses, they'll be in serious trouble in this ECF series.

If you're worried about Toronto, I don't know how the hell you think you're winning against OKC or GSW.

This is a 5 game series, man.

Well, matchups are important. We seem to have OKC's number whereas Toronto has an ideal defense to match up against LeBron, along with a PG who shreds us every time we play. Also, to be fair, Toronto did win more games than OKC in the RS, so let's not act as if they're vastly inferior.

Finally, I don't see any way the Cavs - or any team for that matter - beat Golden State, so I don't really need to get into that matchup.

You seem like you're afraid to get your hopes up...which I get.

But there is no way we lose to the Raptors. I disagree, I don't think they match up all that well. They will come out firing tomorrow night, after hearing the world tell them they have no shot. I wouldn't be surprised if they take game 1.

Who knows what you're getting with Kyle Lowry at this point? All we need to do is shut him down and their offense could go forever without scoring.

As far as the Warriors go, pound for pound we are every bit as talented as them. They have an advantage with coaching, but we have a really good chance to beat them.

[RatherUnique]

Already posted this in the LeBron thread, but I thought I'd post it here, too, since it's relevant.



TLDR: The Raptors match up extremely well with the Cavs and if Cleveland's insane 3-point shooting regresses, they'll be in serious trouble in this ECF series.

If you're worried about Toronto, I don't know how the hell you think you're winning against OKC or GSW.

This is a 5 game series, man.

Well, matchups are important. We seem to have OKC's number whereas Toronto has an ideal defense to match up against LeBron, along with a PG who shreds us every time we play. Also, to be fair, Toronto did win more games than OKC in the RS, so let's not act as if they're vastly inferior.

Finally, I don't see any way the Cavs - or any team for that matter - beat Golden State, so I don't really need to get into that matchup.

We've seen 60 win teams lose in the first round. Toronto went 7 against a 45 win team. Reg season records mean absolutely nothing.

And the Raps have an ideal defense to matchup against LeBron? Before game 7 they were giving up 27 on 51% shooting to a 35 year old Wade surrounded by mediocre 3 point shooters. LeBron is going to completely shred them.

[everdiso]

Final 4, Head to Head Records:

GSW: 7-0 (+10.6ppg)
CLE: 3-4 (+0.4ppg)
TOR: 3-4 (-6.9ppg)
OKC: 1-6 (-5.6ppg)

[NBAfan3024]

cavs fans wouldn't you rather not go undefeated to the finals? be tough going into the finals with that unbeaten streak still in tat.

[ATLTimekeeper]

I think the Heat would've been an easier team for the Cavs to beat.

I'm really not worried about Carroll as I think his defense on LeBron is overhyped. Watching LeBron go against Butler or Kawhi, I can see how he gets really frustrated. It's not and never has been that way with Carroll.

This series is difficult to predict. I feel it could easily be a sweep, or it could be hard, grueling series. Toronto is gonna have to play smart defense, though.

Carroll's also playing with one arm and on one leg. But I wouldn't overlook his ability to make plays at key times. Also, Biyombo's help D has been incredible. He's basically been a stronger, more nasty Mavs-era Tyson Chandler. If I were the Raptors I would probably go small at the 4 and have an extra wing in the starting line-up to play the passing lanes and help run their stretch 4s off the line. Let KLove move down in the post and slow their offense down. Then pick on him at the other end with his slow feet.

[ant171717]

Raps fans! We invading the Q??!!