May 18, 2016
Raptors starstruck in series opener with Cavs
While few gave the Toronto Raptors much more than a puncher's chance against the juggernaut Cleveland Cavaliers, Josh Lewenberg writes that Dwane Casey's team learned quickly in Game 1 the realities of hanging around in the Cavs' weight class.
CLEVELAND - Masai Ujiri was not around to watch the Raptors' first ever Conference Finals game live, opting instead to represent them at the NBA's draft lottery in New York.
He chose wisely.
His team's season has been a resounding success and, regardless of where it goes from here, the franchise's future remains bright, evidenced by Ujiri collecting the fruits of a deal that sent Andrea Bargnani to the Knicks three years ago on Tuesday night: the ninth-overall pick in this summer's draft. Understandably, this is a time of optimism for the Raptors and their long suffering fan base, although that didn't exactly translate to the court in Game 1.
No one, as Dwane Casey says, gave the Raptors a "snowball's chance in you know where" going into this series against the well-rested, red-hot Cleveland Cavaliers and their 31-point Game 1 defeat justified those doubts. They were as overwhelmed and outmatched as most expected, maybe even more so.
"I thought they were the fresher team, the quicker team tonight and that's to their credit," Casey said of the Cavs following their convincing 115-84 bludgeoning. "It's one game. The series is not over by any means. We have another game [Thursday]. The score was embarrassing, but again, it was just one game."
With eight days off since sweeping Atlanta in the second round, the hope for Toronto was that maybe the Cavs had cooled off some. They hit 77 three-pointers against the Hawks, an NBA playoff record for most in a series six games or fewer, shooting an impressive 46 per cent from beyond the arc. Would they be rested or would they be rusty?
After the Raptors raised some eyebrows with a quick 7-0 start, the East's top seed put an end to those questions. They hit 67 per cent of their first-half shots, led by LeBron James, of course, who didn't miss his first attempt until five minutes into the third quarter.
Casey was wary of deviating too much from a defensive philosophy that had worked for his team throughout the playoffs and during the regular season. The Raptors tend to prioritize defending the bucket, often at the expense of the three-point line, so naturally, Cleveland presents a unique challenge.
The Cavs were just 7-for-20 from long distance, but it's hard to give Casey's club much credit for that - most of the time LeBron and company decided it best to take the easier, uncontested rout to the rim. Defensively, the Raptors appeared starstruck. James treated DeMarre Carroll as a pylon. One one occasion, in the second quarter, he blew by him on the baseline, finishing with the vicious one-handed slam that would ignite his team's bench and become the game's signature play. Kyrie Irving, who scored a game-high 27 points, got to the rim at will, while his counterpart Kyle Lowry was held to eight points and missed all seven of his threes.
"[It's] very demoralizing," Casey said. "You want to take away one thing, but you don't want to open up a whole can of worms and give them layups and that's where we've got to be disciplined and understand where the help is coming from, the angles of your closeouts. You take away the three, but if you're not careful, you're giving up layups and that's where we have to find a balance."
In four seasons together, this was the first time Lowry and DeMar DeRozan each failed to attempt a free throw in the same game.
They didn't quit or back down from the team many believe will sweep their way to the Finals. They were physical with LeBron, at least when he wasn't beating them off the dribble or backing them into submission, which was all too often. The officials had to go to the monitors to review a couple hard fouls - one from Carroll and the other courtesy of Bismack Biyombo. They fought as much as they were able to fight and, despite all the optimism in the air these days, perhaps, that's just the reality they face on this stage.
If you're familiar with Casey and his team, you know they won't lie down. They've gone 6-0 in the playoffs after a loss and haven't dropped back-to-back games in almost eight weeks. They're a proud group, but they're overmatched. The Cavs didn't just outplay them in the opener, they thoroughly dominated in every facet.
The Raptors are playing with house money. They've proven what they need to prove against opponents in their weight class, but now they'll need to be a whole lot better if they hope to cash in further. They took two out of three meetings with Cleveland during the regular season, closely tailing them in the standings for most of the campaign, but this is a very different Cavs team. They've flipped the switch, as we knew they would.
You can close off the paint and they'll rain threes on you. You take away the long-ball and they beat you at the rim. You make sure LeBron doesn't put the nail in your coffin and he ensures that someone else does.
This series, even if and when it unfolds the way it should, won't be an indictment on the Raptors, as much as it will be an homage to the Cavaliers. They're just at a different level.