Cavaliers pound the Raptors: Four things we learned
By Ian Levy
Cleveland is much better than Toronto
The Cavaliers only finished a game ahead of the Raptors in the regular season standings, and the Raptors did win two of their three regular season meetings. But those two data points obscure just how wide the gap is between the two teams. Cleveland’s point differential was about a 1.5 points per 100 possessions greater than Toronto’s, a difference that we would expect to account for about four more wins over the course of an 82-game season.
Another big difference is the shortening of playoff rotations. In the regular season, Cleveland has 11 players that appeared in at least 20 games and averaged at least 12 minutes per game. In the playoffs, that number is down to nine. Even with the added garbage time of blowout wins over Atlanta and Detroit, Love, LeBron, and Irving are still combining to play an extra 8.2 minutes per game in the playoffs.
Clearly, these are not the Raptors or Cavaliers we saw in the regular season. The Raptors are struggling through a shooting slump by their star point guard and an injury to their starting center. The Cavaliers have found their offensive rhythm, are exploiting playoff mismatches, and are working with a shorter rotation, meaning more minutes for their stars. The Raptors are not finished yet, but things are not looking good.
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