NBA Playoffs 2017: 5 things we learned from the Cavaliers sweep of the Raptors

4. The Raptors lack of three-point shooting led to their extinction

The Cavaliers have snipers up and down their lineup. It’s either Kyle Korver, J.R. Smith, Channing Frye, Kevin Love or even Kyrie Irving. On the other bench, the Raptors have decent shooters, but they don’t have the firepower that Cleveland does. That gap, which was as big as the Grand Canyon, had a huge impact on the outcome of this series.

As Raptors’ Cory Joseph alluded to in the post-game press conference, “they got a great 3-point shooting team, at times where we would make a run, they’ll hit timely 3s and push the game back open and it was tough for us to catch back up.”

The Raptors’ players knew it, they just weren’t able to knock down 3s like the Cavaliers could and it became harder to catch up as a result. The Raptors’ superstar, DeMar DeRozan, is a fantastic jump-shooter, but his game is mainly predicated on the mid-range. Supporting stars, like Cory Joseph, P.J. Tucker and Norman Powell can hit threes, but not at the rate that the Cavaliers’ role players can.

It became evident the longer this series went on, that the Raptors would need crisp ball movement in order to hit 3-pointers, while the Cavaliers could rely on their talent to consistently knock down long-balls.

For the series, the Raptors averaged 6.8 3-pointers made to the Cavaliers’ 15.3 3-pointers. The Raptors made 27 3-pointers all series long, while the Cavaliers made 61. Cleveland’s point differential at the 3-point line was plus-102 for the series. With a margin like that, the Raptors weren’t able to make the difference up in other facets of the game.

The Cavaliers had six players who shot at least 40 percent from 3, while the Raptors only had two such players. Adding 3-point shooters will be a big offseason need for Toronto, especially if they want to keep up with Cleveland in the arms race.