Recap: Cavs 94, Raptors 91 (or, Playoff Level Intensity)

Wait… what month is it again? Cause it sure felt a lot more like late May than late October as the Cavs traveled North to meet up with the team they vanquished in six games during last year’s Eastern Conference Finals. The Raptors seemed determined to play Game 2 of this young season as if this was the surrogate Game 7 that they never received from the last one. That left the Cavs and Coach Ty Lue with a decision to make… roll with “chill mode” or lock in and remind Toronto that they were dealing with the reigning NBA Champs. Maybe it was the intensity of the opposition between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. Maybe it was the desire to crush the hopes of the Raptors before they could start yet again. Or, maybe it was because the Cavs felt the need to hold up their end of the secret postseason bargain they have with their crosstown brethren the Tribe, and win on every day there’s a World Series game also scheduled… just to keep the positive playoff vibes flowing. Whatever the reason, the Cavs chose to rise to the challenge of the moment to keep their record unblemished.

From the jump, the Cavs looked like they were interested in building a quick lead against the Raptors as they shared the ball with crisp passing offensively, and looked to contain Toronto’s volatile backcourt duo. Kyrie kicked off the game with a silky mid-range pullup swish, and did a successful job of getting whatever he wanted against Kyle Lowry in the early going. But the first quarter was really a showcase for Kevin Love to display some of his more assertive post moves… like this sweeping hook over Jonas Valanciunas…

https://vine.co/v/5pmzWKI3q3m

He followed that up with another old school post move for a turnaround fadeaway, a beautiful bank shot that would have made Hans Gruber proud, and even almost succeeded at scoring off of a crossover move (a crossover!). In addition to shooting the glass, KLove was also able to clean it fairly well, snagging five boards to go with his eight points in the first quarter. He also drew a charge on rookie Pascal Siakam (who was filling in for an injured Jared Sullinger), and played some solid interior defense. While Kev and TT were able to bother Valanciunas into just 2-7 shooting in the period, they weren’t able to keep him off the boards as he pulled down eight (of his game high 17) in the frame. Still, between KLove’s post scoring and threes from Kyrie, JR Smith and even a corner triple from LeBron, the Cavs were able to push their lead out to nine with three minutes to go. However, once Kyrie checked out and Shump took over the point, things got a little dicey. Though he was responsible for getting Love the ball in the post, he also had a careless turnover and looked a bit out of control with the ball. The added offensive duty probably also had an impact on his defense, as DeRozan took advantage and went on a mini-run to help close the gap. Cavs led after one, 28-23.

To start the second quarter, the Cavs pushed the lead out to double digits with a three from Kyrie and a layup from LeBron. With Channing Frye unavailable (he did not travel with the team as his mother sadly passed away after a long battle with cancer), Ty Lue altered his rotations and went with a small-ball lineup featuring LBJ, Kyrie, Richard Jefferson, Mike Dunleavy and Shumpert. This unit, despite some shaky play from both Shump and Dunleavy offensively, managed to get three straight stops on the Raptors, continually forcing them into difficult shots. DeMarre Carroll finally helped claw Toronto back into it with a couple of threes. Then LeBron, who had been mostly operating in “chill mode” authored a couple of plays that energized the Cavs. First, he found Kyrie out of a timeout on a terrific cut to the hoop…

https://vine.co/v/5pm5awmqFLX

Then he took a charge from Kyle Lowry (as seen in the headline pic), with his heels hovering just above the restricted area. It saddled Lowry with his second foul, and seemed to frustrate the diminutive guard who had a pretty terrible first half of shooting. From that point (about the 6:30 mark) on, the Cavs cranked up the defense, and outscored Toronto 14-7. The run included a JR steal and breakaway dunk, a few sick Kyrie mid-rangers and one terrific passing sequence that netted an open triple for KLove…

BEAUTIFUL PASSING 🔥❤️🔥❤️ pic.twitter.com/WKrHPABfeb

— Cavs Nation (@CavsNationCP) October 29, 2016

The Cavs turned the Raptors over 12 times in the first half and held them to just 38% shooting from the field. Despite losing the rebounding battle, they were able to extend the lead over Toronto to 50-40 at the break.

#cavs hold Raps to 38% shooting in 1st half..held NYK to 37% on ring night…You know Ty Lue loves this..

— Fred McLeod (@CavsFredMcLeod) October 29, 2016

Right around halftime, Game 3 of the World Series began in earnest. I know my attention was torn between the two games, and one wonders if maybe the Cavs spent a little more time watching the Tribe in the locker room than preparing for the second half of their own game. Or maybe Toronto just decided they weren’t just going to roll over for the Champs, and remembered how badly they wanted to score a statement win over the Cavs in the early going. The Raptors were still missing shots, but the Cavs came out cold as well, and it seemed like Toronto was grabbing every loose ball and rebound. The Raptors also pressured the Cavs into almost twice as many turnovers (11) in the second half as they had in the first. The Cavs still managed to stay ahead of the Raps with some timely three point bombs from Kyrie, JR and KLove, but they allowed DeMar DeRozan to really go off in the quarter. DeRozan scored 16 of his game high 32 points in the third, on an effective mix of mid-range jumpers and drives. He also got to the line, going a perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe. Even after LeBron gave the Cavs a bit of breathing room with this triple…

https://vine.co/v/5pmQeIO2n9i

…DeRozan proceeded to drive the length of the floor in the remaining five seconds to score a running jump shot that cut the Cavs lead to four… 71-67.

With the Raptors smelling blood, their bench stepped up and took advantage in the fourth quarter. Led by the dynamic tandem of Cory Joseph and some giant Austrian dude named Jacob Poeltl (rhymes with “turtle”), Toronto chipped away at the Cavs’ lead and got it down to one point with 7:30 remaining. A Kyrie triple and a LeBron layup helped stem the tide and led to a Raptor timeout, but then Lowry and DeRozan started driving and drawing fouls while the Cavs went cold again from the outside. Kyrie and LeBron started to find a good rhythm with the pick and roll, which led to an uncontested LBJ dunk on one possession, yet the Raptor guards would not stop attacking the rim on the other end. Toronto finally got it’s first lead of the game at 89-88 with just over 2:30 to go. LeBron got fouled on the next possession and split his free throws to knot the score at 89 (sound familiar?).

Unlike that similar situation, there was one more back and forth with LeBron putting the Cavs up with another pair of free throws… followed by an epic drive and slam by DeRozan (that put an unfortunate TT on a poster and wound up at number one on SportCenter’s Top Plays). But very much like that similar situation, the final tie was broken by yet another signature dagger heaved by our other burgeoning superstar… aka MFQ…

https://vine.co/v/5pKaJr9I30Y

After some stingy Cavalier defense on the other end (first against Lowry and then on a Patrick Patterson triple try), it seemed like a certain wine and gold winner. However, Toronto blitzed Kyrie on the final inbounds and, though they appeared to foul him, no whistle was blown as Patterson stripped the ball and somehow called a timeout with 0.3 seconds on the clock. The officials allowed one final Lowry heave that went awry… and the Cavs escaped The North with a hard-fought victory, 94-91.

The Evil

• Despite taking care of the ball for the first 24 minutes (six turnovers), the Cavs got sloppy while the Raptors got aggressive in the second half, and they ended up with 17 for the game. Though the Shump as PG experiment is looking shaky at best, he wasn’t the main culprit for the mishandling of the rock tonight. Yes, his turnovers stuck out, but he still only had two in 20 minutes. Kyrie (7) and LeBron (5) had the majority, most on drives into traffic or errant passes. Some of them can probably be chalked up to early season carelessness, but credit to the Raptors for turning up the pressure.
• Toronto won the battle on the glass 51-40, and it didn’t seem that close at times. The Cavs still managed to get 10 boards each from Love and TT, plus eight from LeBron and six from Kyrie, but they allowed 17 to Valanciunas, seven to DeRozan and Poeltl, and six each to Carroll and Patterson. Also, 18 of those were on the offensive glass (to just nine for the Cavs). Wondering if TT’s foot is still bothering him a bit… or if it’s just the beginning of the Kardashian Kurse…
• The bench didn’t contribute a whole lot (just 10 points on 2-12 shooting), and was generally outplayed by Toronto’s bench. Granted, they didn’t have Channing Frye for this one (and they won’t again tomorrow against the Magic), but they shouldn’t get outplayed by the likes of Cory Joseph, Patrick Patterson and Jacob Poeltl. Neither team went too deep into their rotations, as both treated this more like a playoff game than the second game of the season, but it might have been good to see guys like Liggins or Felder come in to handle the ball a bit on the second unit.
• That poster job by DeRozan on TT might be an early candidate for dunk of the year…

The Genius

• The big three all played well for a second game in a row.
• Kyrie had a very good night, leading the team with 26 points and adding six boards and a half dozen assists. He shot just 2-9 in the fourth quarter which skewed his numbers a bit (10-23 from the field), and he needs to clean up the turnovers, but he still hit 5-9 from downtown… including the final dagger to break the last tie. It’s pretty hard to top The Shot, but it’s great to see Kyrie (and his teammates) have the confidence that he’s going to knock those down in big moments. It may already be time for him to be the primary scorer on this team.
• Kevin Love was active again, notching 18 points (on 6-15 shooting) with 10 boards, two blocks and two assists. His athleticism seems increased from last season, and he also looked more decisive and confident in his post moves (he even tried that freaking crossover move!). He’s had some tough matchups in these first two game with Porzingis and Valanciunas, but he’s held his own, and has even played some solid defense. It should be fun to see him dominate smaller PFs.
• LeBron had an odd game. He looked to be in full-on “chill mode” for much of the first half, coasting along as we might expect, and saving himself if needed in the end. Turns out, he was needed, and he wound up scoring or assisting on all of the Cavs’ final 16 points of the game. He didn’t hit double figures in points until the third quarter, but wound up with 21 on 7-16 shooting. A back-to-back triple double could have easily been in the cards if the King had cared to secure one… as it was he still ended up with eight boards and seven assists (the last one to Kyrie for the dagger). He even hit a couple of threes for good measure. Aside from being a bit lackadaisical with the ball, it’s hard to find much to not like. Even LBJ’s off nights would be career nights for most…
• The Cavs played good defense and inspired defense when it mattered most. They held the Raptors to just 38% shooting for the game, and just 4-16 from deep. For the most part, they contained Lowry, and only let DeRozan truly go off to any degree. Even despite not controlling the glass better, they still harrassed the Toronto bigs into tough shots as well.
• Nobody got a concussion…

Parting Shot

To use Tom’s earlier post as a reference point, this game seemed more like an outlier than the new norm for the Cavs. It’s unlikely they’ll either have to, or feel the need to expend even this much energy to dispatch most of their opponents in the early stages of the season. With the Raptors, they probably felt they needed to send a message while not giving Toronto any sort of ideas about being able to unseat them. After all, the Raps are probably still the second best team in the Eastern Conference, and there’s no sense allowing them to get some confidence rolling. There will be games like this that the Cavs will probably just concede on occasion, but this particular one mattered… or at least was a fun test per LeBron…

“I think it was a good test for us,” James said. “It’s fun to have games like that throughout the regular season, it sharpens your sword.”

Part of me still believes that it has to do with winning vibes being contagious though. After all, the Indians haven’t lost a World Series game when the Cavs have been victorious on the same night so far. Coincidentally… Game 4 coincides with the Cavs hosting Orlando today… and Game 6 (if necessary) just happens to line up with the Cavs’ matchup with the Rockets. After all, LeBron does have a pretty significant bet on the line with his old pal DWade… so, let the playoff intensity roll on (at least until there’s another Championship to celebrate).

Until then… GO CAVS! and GO TRIBE!