May 16, 2016
Five Quick Thoughts: Off to Cleveland!
Now that Toronto Raptors fans have exhaled, Coach offers up his five quick hoops thoughts from a historic day for the franchise and what to expect from the Cavaliers.
Five quick hoops thoughts from a historic day for the Toronto Raptors franchise.
1. RAPS GET TO THE EAST FINALS: How Sweet it is! Congrats to all you long-suffering Raptors fans. Take a deep breath and enjoy it. Your passion, loyalty and support have been fabulous over the years. You deserve it.
2. BISMACK BIYOMBO: Give the man his due, he gets extended minutes and he has produced. We talk a ton about his blocks, dunks, rebounds and free throw adventures, but what really blew me away was his terrific on ball defense when he got caught on switches on smaller players.
He moves his feet and accepts the challenge big time.
3. PATRICK PATTERSON: I can't say enough about how professional this guy is. He plays each play as hard as he can and doesn't let the last one bother him one bit at all. Patterson is totally focused on the task at hand and honestly, guys like this are so rare.
Coaches trust players like him so much because he puts in the proper preparation - so he's ready for anything. He gets a lot out of what he has. In my eyes, he has the proper makeup to be an outstanding coach if he ever decided to do that when he retired.
4. THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS: LeBron & Company have had lots of time off. Who knows if that helps or hurts them. I'll say this - in the eight playoff games they've played so far, they've been an absolute joy to watch. They share the ball, shoot the ball, play hard, appear to finally like and respect each other and guys know/accept their roles.
No doubt they'll be a very difficult opponent for Toronto, despite losing two of three during the season. Realistically, the Raptors will have to play their 'A' game to win this series. They've got to take care of the ball, execute well on offence, avoid the Cavs' transition, defend the 3 and rebound like crazy to have a chance.
5. THUNDER-WARRIORS: This should be a fast-paced and exciting series - can't wait! The perimeter players are off the charts for both. The big key for the Warriors is they have Draymond Green and a little better defence. Warriors in six.