The NBA playoffs are here. The games are tighter, the lights are brighter, and the narratives are getting thick. It can be a lot to keep up with but don’t worry we’re here to help. Throughout the NBA postseason, FanSided will be gathering together some of the most talented writers from our network for a daily recap of our favorite stories from the night before.
Welcome to the Rotation.
Beating them into extinction
Cody Williams | @TheSizzle20 | Lake Show Life, FanSided
To say that the Cleveland Cavaliers were favorites coming into the Eastern Conference Finals against the Toronto Raptors would’ve been vastly underrating the situation. After the Cavs took the minimum eight games to get to the East Finals and the Raptors needed the maximum 14 games to do the same, it was clear that these two teams were operating on different planes coming into the Conference Finals.
As clear as that was before the opening tip of Game 1, it’s unequivocally undeniable after the fact.
Toronto put up a fight in the first quarter, sure, but the Cavaliers asserted their domination in the in the final 36 minutes of action in an aggressive, emphatic fashion. LeBron James and the rest of the starters were pulled before the fourth quarter ever got underway and the lead never wavered.
Cleveland securing a dominant win at any point in this series against the Raptors is far from a stunning development in any regard. However, it was the way that the Cavs were able to do so that really showed them flexing their dominance over their opponents.
Looking back on the eight consecutive wins in the first two rounds that got the Cavaliers to the East Finals, the predominant pattern in the games where they blew out both the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks was that they filled it up from long-range. They shot record-breaking numbers from beyond the arc in the sweep of Detroit and continued that trend against Atlanta as well. Near routinely it seemed, the Cavs were knocking down an absurd 20 threes in a single game.
Without Jonas Valanciunas in the lineup for the Raptors, though, the Cavaliers chose a different mode of attacking Toronto as they relentlessly went at the rim. Thirty of their 74 field goal attempts on the night come from within five feet of the basket. Aided heavily by LeBron’s 11-13 shooting on the night, Cleveland shot 83.3 percent on those 30 attempts from inside five feet.
Meanwhile, the Cavs took only 20 threes as a team on the night and, while they still shot a decent 35 percent on those attempts, it was clearly an intentional course of action to go at the rim and not try to drop bombs from long-range.
Looking at this method that Cleveland used to win Game 1 in such dominant fashion, though, it displays just how much of an uphill battle the Raptors are fighting in the East Finals and the supremacy of the Cavaliers. With Valanciunas in the lineup, the Cavs are obviously able to limit his effectiveness by dipping back into their three-point shooting ability. Without the big man in the lineup, they can be absolutely lethal at the rim. It’s a double-edged sword and both edges can deliver the death-blow–and that doesn’t bode well for Toronto for the rest of this series.
When the levees break
Ian Levy | @HickoryHigh | FanSided
The story of last night was the Cleveland Cavaliers crushing the Toronto Raptors around the basket. Fifty-six points in the paint, 33 free throws. It was not so much bully-ball as an endless series of slicing drives and uncovered back-cuts. The Cavs found a hole in Toronto’s defense and chipped away at it until the flood of a blowout came rushing through.
It’s easy to point to the absence of Jonas Valanciunas, not expected to be healthy enough to play again until Game 3 at least, and draw a line between that and Cleveland’s dominating interior performance. But the defensive failings of Game 1 go way beyond a shortened big man rotation.
Bismack Biyombo is a far superior rim protector to Valanciunas and, in the midst of a playoff breakout of his own, he wasn’t able to do anything to stem the tide. Toronto’s perimeter players couldn’t keep the ball in front of them, repeatedly lost their man off the ball or in transition, and everyone was two steps slow on rotations. Cleveland’s shooting also presents a unique challenge, often pulling Biyombo away from the rim and leaving the other players on the floor to hold down the paint. They seemed woefully unprepared.
The Raptors could really use Valanciunas, another big talented body would be great. But there are plenty of other holes to plug — figuring out how to score, pulling taut that defensive string that runs through all five defenders, maybe getting a rebound or two. Also, lost in the extended garbage time of this game is Kyle Lowry shooting 0-for-7 on three-pointers. It is mind-boggling what polar extremes he has played to this postseason — incredibly good or incredibly bad. Would just a ho-hum game from him be too much to ask?
Toronto was overwhelmed, not just physically but by execution, effort, and precision. There is a lot to do before Game 2.
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