Recap: Cavs 125 , Raptors 103 (Or, It’s Raining 3s)
2017-05-04
John Kuntz, Cleveland.com
The Cavs continued their dominance against the overmatched Raptors Wednesday night. They began the night hitting their first eight 3s. LeBron James missed the first long ball for the Cavs in the second quarter with 6:33 to go. This was, of course, a heat check he took after rising up over Serge Ibaka consective times from the 3-line on the right side of floor.
LeBron feeling it from THREE! 🔥 #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/dtW4nlrZK5
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 4, 2017
Ibaka got his between those two made 3s though. He drained a long mid-range two. And, that seemed to be the story of this game. The Cavs canned 18-33 from deep. The Raptors went just 5-17 from deep. Toronto couldn’t respond well enough to keep up with Cleveland. The Raptors just love that mid-range jumper, which as we all know is worth just two points.
The Raptors need to take different shots.
Jonas Valuncuinas led the Raptors with 23 points going 10-13 from the floor. He had five boards. Kyle Lowry had 20 points, hit both of his 3s, and had five dimes, but he injured his ankle early in the third and was hobbled the rest of the game. DeMar DeRozan put up just five points and it took him 11 shots!
The Cavs, on the other hand, had contributions from nearly everyone. LeBron James dropped 39 points, hit four 3s, made 15 of his 21 free throws, dished four assists, and grabbed five rebounds. He shot an ultra efficient 10-14 from the floor. Kyrie Irving notched 11 assists and 22 points. Channing Frye dropped five 3s. J.R. Smith scored just six points, but his tenacious defense on DeMar led to him having a game best plus-minus of +28. And, once again the Cavs kept the ball moving with 28 assists on 41 made baskets.
First Quarter
I tuned into the game at about 7:05 and found that I actually missed the first few minutes. TNT is keeping these games on a strict schedule. I lucked out though and started my night seeing greatness. The Cavs were down 9-7 with 8:45 to go. They then ripped off a 12-0 run.
Kyrie was the primary architect of success in the quarter. He dished out five assists, four for threes. He was jab stepping defenders off-balance before whipping the ball out and sometimes even Nashing it into the paint and getting it back out to the man behind the arc. Frye and J.R. both hit a couple 3s because of him.
The @cavs came out on 🔥 from 👌 in Game 2! #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/PDRQxfZ9eJ
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 3, 2017
The quarter was completely lopsided. When Valunciunas checked in for the Raptors, he was able to score their final ten points of the quarter to make the game seem closer than it was. Iman Shumpert did a dribble into a mid-range jumper sequence to end the quarter for the Cavs. He stopped one dribble short of me jumping over to pleasestopdribblingimanshumptert.com to put the Cavs up 34-22.
Second Quarter
The Cavs started the second quarter with the scrub unit of Shump, Frye, Deron Williams, and Kyle Korver. Since LeBron laid back in the first quarter, he had plenty of energy to run the second unit. He started the quarter hitting Frye for a 3-pointer. The next time down the floor he just brute force cut his way to the paint as DeMarre Carrol held him. Williams found him and the King drained one of his free throws. Two straight turnovers and a LeBron “no call cause he’s too strong to show signs of being mugged” miss at the rim led to an Ibaka bucket and a Lue timeout.
Out of the timeout, the King caught the ball near half court, did a spin move to the hoop, and laid it in. A set Raptor defense didn’t faze him. He continued his onslaught putting up 15 points in the quarter and hitting two 3s. He even pulled another coast-to-coast move against a set defense after the Raptors tossed the ball out of bounds with 3:23 left.
.@KingJames soars for the JAM! #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/S6uA3ZQKdc
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 3, 2017
Valunciunas got nine points for the Raptors on 4-4 shooting to keep the Raptors from getting totally blown out. The Cavs finished the quarter really strong on a 6-3 run. Irving hit a bail out 3 with the shot clock winding down and then found Shumpert in the corner a few plays later after taking a screen and dribbling along the baseline to draw stares from the entire Raptor defense. After 24 minutes, the Cavs led 62-48.
Third Quarter
The Cavs continued their dominant play in the third. On the very first Cavalier play, the Raptors defended for about fifteen seconds before Love broke free for an open 15 footer. He bricked it, but TT grabbed the board and tossed it to LeBron beneath the rim for two. At some point during that sequence, Kyle Lowry had his ankle injured. He laid on the baseline and was sent to the locker room for a few minutes. When he came back he was clearly limping (he would sit out the fourth).
LeBron was the man for Cleveland once again putting up 17 points. He hit two 3s in a row courtesy of Irving passes and followed those up by getting fouled on a 3-pointer by Ibaka. He made all three free throws. Ibaka responded to two of the 3s with mid-range jumpers. Again, the story of the game. The Raptors took and missed their two 3 attempts in the quarter. Their lack of 3s was due to the Cleveland defense and their own poor coaching.
Kyrie was a solid accomplice to the King. He had fifteen of his own and four assists. He had the ultimate demoralizer assist with 3:32 to go. After getting a steal near the top of the key, he brought the ball down the court and passed back to LeBron for a trailing dunk. The feed was all the more humiliating because a few minutes prior he initiated the same exact sequence, except the King got fouled instead dropping a slam.
Kyrie ➡️ LeBron 💪 #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/pmDK8iwFs1
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 4, 2017
The play after that the King stole the ball and got sent to the line after getting out in transition. The two made freebies put the Cavs up 24. They entered the fourth up, 99-77.
Fourth Quarter
Lue didn’t want to risk the Raptors making the most historic NBA playoff comeback ever, something the Cavs own the rights to, so he had LeBron start the action with the scrub-stars. The King found Korver for a pick and pop 3-ball fairly quickly. Then he drew another 3-point foul on Ibaka. The game was officially over about a minute later when Korver hit Channing Frye in semi-transition for a corner 3 to put Cleveland up 30. The King checked out with six minutes to go.
Garbage time chugged along. Shumpert showed out a little getting nine points on 4-6 shooting. He dribbled a bunch and got to be the man for a little bit. Cory Joseph scored 18 meaningless points for the Raptors.
Gripes
- In the first half, Jonas Valunciunas punked nearly every Cav in the paint. He had 19 points on 90% shooting. He had some open shots from the Cavs doubling on the perimeter, and he committed some cave man esque shoulder slams for points. He had just five points in the second half and played just seven minutes. The Raptors must have realized they wouldn’t be able to win if they had a guy dropping 2s while the Cavs dropped 3s.
- The King was 15-21 from the charity line. The Cavs could have used those six points, right?
- Cleveland was sloppy with the ball with 16 turnovers, but a lot of the turnovers were from guys looking to make a pass. I’d rather guys turn it over doing that instead of dribbling it off themselves.
- Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson combined for just 16 boards, but the Cavs were having them come out high on pick and rolls and they did a great job closing on shooters when called to.
Hypes
- LeBron. He scored 39 points on 14 shots. Does any more need to be said?
- Irving was pretty filthy too. He had 11 assists. When was the last time he had two games in a row with double digit assists? Irving is growing right in front of Americas’ eyes. He is legitimately reacting to the game now. Instead of using a pick and roll to score or dime, he’s looking for where opposing defenses are moving to. He’s also bending defenses more by prodding deeper with his dribble. He’s not launching the mid-range jumper he’s so fond of taking when he gets a foot of separation during the intial screen. Look at his shot charts. He has taken the up high mid-range jumper just twice in this series.
- Defensively, the Cavs held the Raptors to 46.7% from the field. They allowed them to take just 17 3s (they made five). The best defense in the post season is letting teams fire up 23.4 3s a night. That team happens to be the Raptors, and they let the Cavs fire up 33 tonight. The Raptors aren’t going to win a single game if the Cavs nearly double the amount of triples they do.
- To be honest, that trend will probably continue. The Cavs seem to be encouraging Toronto’s mid-range shots by making sure they have guys flying out to the 3-line to dissuade that shot, which is quite the feat considering how they are covering DeMar DeRozan. Guys have to travel to stop 3s with this scheme.
- Cleveland has been doubling, trapping, and showing hard on DeMar to prevent him from getting any open shots no matter where he gets the ball. They may actually break him. DeMar had five tonight and 19 points on 16 shots Monday. And, he has just five assists to date in this series.
- Finally, the Cavalier role players stepped up tonight. Shumpert did a fantastic job on DeRozan. And, he got to play six minutes in the fourth as the primary guy on the floor. He dribbled his heart out and shot some ill-advised shots that dropped. It’s out of his system and Cavs fans should be excited to see a reserved Shump play Friday. Frye hit five 3s and J.R. played great defense.
- I’d also like to give myself props. I predicted the game would end up a Cavs 124-101 win.
- The final score 0f 125 for the Cavs was the most they have ever scored in a playoff game. WITNESS.
- LeBron will look to continue his streak of winning a road game in the playoffs on Friday in Toronto.
It’s really incredible how much fouling Avery Bradley gets away with on defense. He’s like the perimeter version of Bray. Watch how often he grabs and holds opposing players, hardly ever gets whistled. Must be incredibly annoying to play against him.
Jazz don’t have enough rounds in the chamber.
I’ve never rooted for any player to get hurt, but Braymond makes it really hard.
I root for everyone on the Warriors to get hurt in every game. Still bitter about the 2015 Finals when they got a free pass with KI and Love out.
Braymond leads the league in should-be technicals.
nah, he leads in blocks and 3 FG% in post season. how rare for a person to do that well in those two categories.
He also gets away with more with the refs than any other player in the game. All of those things can be true — and one of them is likely to remain true as long as he is playing.
Phil, we all have our biases. Draymond and Iguodala gets all ball most of the time. Fans outside warriors don’t know this but Draymond anticipates plays early enough to get into position to defend and then his wing span allows him to block shots or knock the ball out or get all ball while defending.
He also leads the lead in nut kicks. You are probably proud of that too.
Not this year. No matter what media tells, Draymond is not that kind of person who intentionally does that.
Uh really. You know him personally. Because he definitely butted Steven Adams intentionally and LBJ. Coward move. When you pause and wind up, it is intentional. You are a delusional homer.
Remind me who lead the nba finals last year in blocks? Who lead the nba finals in nut punches?
That would be Lebron, I would never make fun of a great player like Lebron thoroughly enjoy watching 2nd best player of all time.
https://twitter.com/World_Wide_Wob/status/860299427063484416
Can’t believe that Olymyk, after leading with his shoulder into Oubre (jaw, neck or sternum? can’t tell on my phone), made a beeline for the ref to complain about the foul call.
I’d call it hiding behind the ref
God these teams are terrible. We are so spoiled.
Simmons must be enjoying this exhibition of James Young style ‘basketball’…
I’d throw a behind the back pass into Brad Stevens’ face.
Rozier is perfect for this crappy Celtic team. Another chippy scrub.
Bullets are going to get killed in game 4 – President Stevens might even put a bounty out on the Bullet stars.
No Tony Parker and no George Hill and yet they say the Cavs always get the easy way to the finals.
I also forgot the Blake Griffin’s injury.
Olynyk with more of his nonsense…kick this guy out of the league…
Bullets up 22 after one…probably force President Stevens to break out his extreme thugball earlier than he’d like…we’ll see if Wall makes it to halftime with his limbs intact.
Olynyk is a disgrace.
Stevens took a timeout about 3 minutes too late. Wizards up big early.
Last comment: LeBron so far this series: 74 points on 23–37 shooting, 6–11 from 3, 29 free-throw attempts, 16 rebounds and a plus-40 in 78 minutes
GOAT
A second point… how can DeMar DeRozan not shoot a three? How has he not taken a summer and just added that to his arsenal? I think this series would be entirely different if he had that in his game. Not being able to go above screens and drain a three makes him so “easy” to guard if you have time to plan for it. Until he adds that to his game he’s going to be a regular season all star for life.
Great point.
Yup… thought the same thing about Wade too…. even though Wade’s doing it this year… why wait until you’re already a decade into your career???
Here me out on this… what if LeBron started doing the old Rick Barry underhanded free throw. He’s one of the only people in the league who is cool enough to do that and have no one talk trash about it if he started hitting 90% of his free throws. The chain reaction would make it cool for anyone else in the league to start doing it, but if we hired Barry as a coach (he’s offered it to a number of people before) our team could get the head start. Imagine everyone on our team not shooting above 80%… Read more »
He won’t do it. And at this point in his career, it might not work that great. Someone like TT doing it might work.
Honestly, what has to happen is for a player to chose to do it, have it work, and get rewarded for it, i.e., paid. One of the problems with poor free throw shooting for bigs is that they get paid anyway.
And the league considers changing rules to make it easier for poor shooting bigs too
Wilt did it for a year or so & shot the best percentages of his career (60%+) I think. Then went back because of how it looked. Think of all those games they lost to the Celtics by 1 or 2 points. Or the Knicks. Wilt could have had another 2-3 titles, easy.
Btw I think his youngest son set Florida U’s free throw record in college using the underhanded method.
JUST LISTENED TO LEBRON’S ENTIRE RESONSE TO THE QUESTION OF ” RACISM “—-TO ME HIS RESPONSE / MATURE DEMEANOR / ATTITUDE WAS MORE IMPRESSIVE THAN HIS EXPLOITS ON THE FLOOR—–THANK YOU LEBRON FOR NOT ONLY GROWING INTO A GREAT BASKETBALL PLAYER BUT AN EVEN GREATER PERSON / HUMAN BEING …..WE NEED MORE HIGH PROFILE PERSONALITIES BE THE POSITIVE ROLE MODELS FOR OUR YOUTH / SOCIETY
+1
I was struck by this too. He’s a good guy.
Nice write up, DW, and congrats on virtually nailing the final score. My favorite moment showing the Cavs toying with the Raptors was the “free throw routine” three-pointer that James shot over Ibaka. That has to be demoralizing seeing James spin the ball twice, take his time, and then drain the shot in your grille. With James playing at this elevated level, there is indeed no answer for him in the East, and we have a fighting chance against the Warriors.
I really hope torontos take away is to play Jonas more. That will lead to even more destrction
Getting some serious schadenfreude from reading through Toronto’s live thread from last night. Cheers me right up.
Jonas is abusing everyone there. That’s an angle that needs addressing on G3.
I expect DeMar to come up big next game, albeit inefficiently. He knows he’s the defense’s target and he won’t let another poor game come. Therefore I expect him to force things being very eager on bouncing back, and the Cavs should exploit it. Let him create for himself, tire himself chucking those long range 2’s and negate the supporting cast.
Good point, I agree.
Great game. This team is incredibly fun to watch. LeBron is playing the best basketball of his career. Not only is he putting up video game numbers, but he’s making it look EASY. First time in Kyrie’s career with back-to-back 20/10 games I believe. Is that true? Also, seems weird that JV played so few minutes in the second half. I realize we were up big, but Toronto isn’t a big time 3 point shooting team anyways. The guy was 9-10. We didn’t have an answer. Why not go back to something you know is working? Even if it just… Read more »
Well, it was only working marginally. They were less concerned with making their own threes as they were for stopping us from making ours. Pulling JV out of the paint on defense means that basically you are content with trading his made 2’s for our made 3’s. Granted, obviously even with him out, they couldn’t stop our threes. So you are, in the end, right. As Casey seems to be a very poor playoff coach.
Casey is a very poor playoff coach.
Casey could’ve played JV more in the 2nd half when they are;
1. Cutting down the lead, substituting timely.
2. When it’s already blown out and they can’t get anything from Demar.
It’s not like he’s the difference maker in the series but they’re very overmatched that Casey shouldn’t be conservative in his counters.
I mean, you’re not wrong. This just goes back to Casey being a poor playoff coach. In-game adjustments aren’t his strong suit.
VERY GOOD POINT JMAY —–NOBODY IS GOING TO REMEMBER HOW YOU PLAYED IN NOV/ DEC/ JAN / FEB ETC . ( EXCEPT THE UNEDUCATED MEDIA WHO HYPE CERTAIN PLAYERS FOR MVP ) —LEBRON KNOWS / UNDERSTANDS THIS —–WAIT UNTIL THE ‘BIG STAGE ” AND THEN I WILL ” LIGHT IT UP “——-EVERYONE IN THE NBA IS PLAYING FOR “2ND BEST ” BEHIND THE KING ———I HAVE BECOME A “COLSIAN DECIPLE “
I just saw a tweet that Kawhi had a career high 8 assist last night. He’s better than Lebron? I literally chuckled.
Also the first year Kawhi broke the 25ppg barrier.
I like Kawhi tho. Really like his game and demeanor. But come on, already better than Bron? Projected to have a better career? Lol. The media is funny at times.
The difference is Kawhi guards the best player on the other team every night. James does not (anymore). Did you see what he did to Harden? Also, the way SAS play offense the ball is handled more egalitarian than here. James has the rock more (he’s a bettet passer anyway).
Has Kawhi scored over 40 points yet?
I don’t discredit Kawhi’s D but he’s more a defensive Carmelo out there. He’s not a franchise uplifting player like Lebron or CP. I get SAS moves the ball around but he has the ball a lot to score over 30ppg. Put Kawhi on Sixers, do Sixers make playoffs?
I know this is CTB, but what’s more valuable a shutdown wing defender or a guy capable of defending 1-5 in crunch time situations?
Well, what a drubbing. I love it. That finals rematch rematch with the Warriors is looming ahead. I’ll save my analysis for that until we need it. For now, LeBron is absolutely, without a doubt, showing that he is gunning for Greatest of all Time. He isn’t doing it in the regular season. He is doing it in the playoffs. When everyone is watching. After everyone has forgotten how insanely good he is. He let’s guys like Harden and Westbrook take the spotlight all regular season and only those who pay close attention to the Cavs know he is just… Read more »
HAHA NATURE CHANNEL LEBRON!
He is, after all, the ultimate hardwood predator…
I LOVE this video. I loved it last year, I love it this year. I HATE the Warriors. And it takes a lot for me to hate. I think this year instead of lion it should be the Shark, obviously. Big fan of my metaphor haha
One thing that I noticed is the role reversal from Kyrie and Lebron. Kyrie has been doing most of the playmaking and Lebron has been doing most of the scoring and it has the Raptors defense with no clue on how to stop them. Kudos to whoever came up with this brilliant idea from the Cavs coaching staff.
For one, Kyrie is struggling with his shooting and Lebron is on fire. I don’t think that trend will continue longer but we do hope they both (well, all of them..) get hot from everywhere going forward.
But shoutout to Kyrie for elevating his level of playmaking despite the poor shooting. Finding other ways to contribute, another wrinkle to his maturity.
Definitely… Kyrie hasn’t even entered his prime yet. Just turned 25…. if anything, his maturity is being accelerated with LBJ’s tutelage.
Cavs. They have a switch. And they have turned it on. Particularly LBJ. As CLF and Kevin note below, he can kind of do whatever he wants. And it’s a waste of time and energy to try to do that every night for 7 months. So he doesn’t do it until the playoffs. And, even then, he kind of saves a little extra for each round. I love all of the quotes from the team about how, “we are starting to come together.” LOL. These are quotes that most teams make in the pre-season!! Could they troll the regular season… Read more »
Honestly they are making a mockery of the regular season. It’s not good for the league as a whole, but, oh well. LeBron has been a disruptive force (mostly for good) in the NBA.
Agree on that. It is not the best for the NBA. One of the odd stories to me is how everyone obsesses about Bron’s minutes and days off, but no one talks about how he (and the whole team really) exert about 70% effort in most regular season games.
One of the things that has happened is that in the 80s and 90s of everybody used to dog it for three quarters and then play the fourth. Then Pop realized that you could win a lot of games in the regular season by running a bench that could beat other teams and made everyone play for 48 minutes. LeBron has reversed this by dogging in spurts for the regular season and then just mastering the post season.
LBJ appears to have reach a whole other level of playing. To me, it really is Jordan-esque… complete control of the game. Last year there were more loose/empty possessions. This year, loose/empty possessions are just so rare now this playoff season. And I also love the fact that Lue has finally chosen and stuck with a 2nd unit of Deron, Kyle, Shump, and Frye. Even though Shump is streakier, they all can shoot exceptionally. Deron, Kyle, and Frye have that veteran savvy that makes them effective defensively with team defense. Shump brings elite athleticism and can go one on one… Read more »
I’ll offer a theory on what we’re seeing. It’s LeBron without feeling any more pressure or expectations. The man broke a 52-year title drought. Now he is free to do what he does best. And that’s wrecking entire franchises.
+1. I feel you. Looking forward to the destruction.
You nailed it, I thought the same.
TT, JR, and Shump have played great as well. Their and Lebron’s physicality has taken the Raptors out of the game.
Before the postseason, I was literally cheering for Shump to be traded this off-season. The way he has played thus far in the postseason, he is a must-keep. The most important signing this off-season may actually be David Griffin. Lol, the irony.