Cavaliers take Game 1 from Raptors: 3 takeaways

Behind stellar play from the LeBron James and the Big 3, the Cleveland Cavaliers took Game 1 from the Toronto Raptors.

The Toronto Raptors: A tragedy in one play:

In the second quarter of Game 1, Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving took the Raptors 1-on-3 off a fast break. He drove diagonally from the right of the nail to the left block, taking his two steps before he rose for a layup.

THWACK! Patrick Patterson, trailing Irving, swats the attempt toward the left corner where, unfortunately, sat Cavaliers sniper Kyle Korver who catches the ball in rhythm and launches a 3 — SWISH!

The play is a microcosm of the Raptors’ continued attempts to overcome the onslaught of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Toronto tries so hard, does so much and it’s just never enough.

Originally down 18 at one point in the first half, the Raptors cut the deficit to two — surviving two 10-0 runs by the Cavs in a total of 3:53 — only for the Cavs to lead by 16 at the half and never allow the Raptors get closer than eight the rest of the way.

The Raptors shot 38.5 percent from 3 and made 10 for the game … only for the Cavaliers to hit 14 behind the arc on 45 percent shooting. Anything you can do, I can do better.

So how did the Cavaliers do it to the Raptors again? Here are three takeaways from Game 1.

Takeaways

J.R. Smith vs. DeMar DeRozan is the matchup of the series: Smith will be the main defender on the Raptors’ best scorer. In Game 1, Smith all but shut down DeRozan. In the first half, DeRozan, who makes his bones driving to the paint and drawing fouls, only attempted two shots in the restricted area and they were on fast breaks.

In fairness, Smith benefited heavily from Cavs trapping DeRozan off pick and roll — something the Raptors allowed happen until the third quarter, when they began running DeRozan off curls to get him a live dribble. Still, the majority of the time, DeRozan was forced to pass out of a double-team or he settled for mid-range jumpers, which he continually missed.

The latter shouldn’t be surprising, considering when Smith was on the floor in the regular season, he basically neutralized DeRozan from five feet and out. Smith continued his defensive dominance against DeRozan, who finished Game 1 7-of-16 from the field.

But here’s the weird thing about the Smith-DeRozan matchup: Smith gets torched on drives. DeRozan shot 75 percent inside the restricted area in the regular season on four attempts a game. DeRozan’s size and strength were apparent when he bullied his way to his lone bucket in the restricted area with Smith guarding him. It will be interesting to see how DeRozan comes out Game 2 and how the Raptors attack the double-teams. For now, Smith leads 1-0.

Welcome back, ball movement: Though the Cavaliers swept the Indiana Pacers, in Game 4 they fell into hero ball on their way to one of the lowest assist totals of the NBA postseason. They finished 9-30 from 3.

Tonight, they got back to what they’ve been doing all year — moving the ball. At one point, the Cavaliers had 20 assists on 27 field goals and finished the game with 26 assists on 39 makes. The Cavs opted for the extra pass, which led to catch-and-shoot opportunities and several open corner 3s that were huge in stopping the Raptors’ comeback attempts.

If the Cavs continue to move the ball like Game 1, then the Raptors season will be over; the Cavs scored at least 30 points in three quarters. The silver lining for the Raptors is the Cavs are still vulnerable to isolation-heavy basketball and on a couple poor possessions were bailed out a 3-pointer.

The Cavs’ version of the lineup of death isn’t such: In Game 3 against the Pacers, the five-man lineup of LeBron, Iman Shumpert, Deron Williams, Channing Frye and Kyle Korver were pivotal in the Cavaliers’ 26-point comeback.

In Game 1, Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue attempted to play his version of the lineup of death — which is really like a lineup of incapacitation — and the Cavs hemorrhaged points. The five-man group upped their minutes from 10 in Game 3 against Indiana, to 28 minutes against the Raptors. The lineup scored 1.31 points per possession, but they gave up 1.41 points per possession, for a net rating of minus-9.7.

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While the lineup is deadly with the amount of shooting around LeBron, it seems that it’s better used in spurts only. We’ll see if Lue and the Cavs adjust and not make it a regular thing.