Playoff Live Thread: Cavs @ Raptors, Game 4 (#SpringCleaning)
2017-05-07
Yesterday, I cleaned out my garage. It was great to get rid of all the old junk and make some room for the absolute necessities. The Cavs have done much the same thus far this spring, brooming out the cobwebs and dust bunnies of the regular season and shining up their offense and defense in the process. They find themselves on the threshold of yet another sweep today as they take on the Toronto Raptors in Game 4 of the Conference Semi-Finals. They’ve won 10 straight in the playoffs since dropping Game 4 of the Finals last June, and with the Game 3 victory at the Air Canada Centre LeBron has run his personal streak of consecutive playoff series with a road win to an incredible 28 in a row.
Two weeks ago, the Cavs were able to pull a clean sweep of a pesky Pacer team, and despite facing a more talented opponent in the Raptors, there’s a good probability they can wipe out Toronto and send them to an early off-season. For their part, the Cavs have taken their game to new sparkling heights, which would bode well regardless… but given that Toronto’s all-star PG, Kyle Lowry, will officially be out for a second straight game… it’ll be a tall order for the Raps to avoid the sweep.
Probable starters for the Cavs: LeBron James, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith, Kyrie Irving; For the Raptors: Norman Powell, Serge Ibaka, Jonas Valanciunas, DeMar DeRozan, Cory Joseph.
Prediction: The Cavs once again spray some threes, clean the glass, and sweep the Raptors off the floor… 113-99.
Catch all of the action starting at 3:30 (EST) on ABC… and don’t forget to chime in here.
https://twitter.com/JoeNogaCLE/status/861312836861079552
GREAT D! Tucker is a great defender but as anything other than a three point shooter, he sucks.
Yeah… great pass Hubie… but layup fail
Lucky Powell missed that open three…
Patterson should get an emmy for that performance.
You can’t go under on Deron. He’s shooting too well.
Tucker with good defense so far.
https://twitter.com/CavsFredMcLeod/status/861311261069496321
Let’s go Cavs!.. I hate these Toronto commentators
Just hope LBJ doesn’t get gassed… played all of that quarter. Does Ty still put him out there to start the second like usual?
That’s how you close a quarter… even though Channing missed that last one, the Cavs really turned up both ends to close the gap almost instantly…
LeBron worked that call from Scott Foster…
Van Vleet with a very very dumb foul.
Do they grow hair in Toronto? LBJ’s dome didn’t have that much coverage on Friday.
DeRozan is traveling a lot without getting called for it…
I really like this quarter. They didn’t panic when Toronto made their run and just kept attacking. That was Toronto’s best shot. They’ll make one more decent run before the game is over, and then LBJ will finish them.
That lead is gone fast ! Great d.
Three point shooting making up the difference for Cleveland. And Then Kyrie with two straight great steals to get the Cavs five points.
AND ONE!
Channing canning!
Good foul, Van Vleet.
Bron playing all 48 of this one?
I think lue is hoping for 36…
More JR please!
Better D that time
Lebron is just…he’s like a teenager playing with pre-adolescents. Just not fair.
Need to pick up the perimeter D if Raps are going to start making threes…
Kyrie attacking. That is good.
Terrible close out by Kyrie. He’s really loafing right now.
Ibaka looking really good. They just need to survive the emotional lift of Toronto facing elimination and finish them off in the second half.
Hubie only talking about the Raptors… glue factory time
Can’t blame him really. Nothing interesting about the Cavs right now. They’re going to win the East. The only story would be if someone challenges them. LBJ is in the finals with CavsTheBlog as his teammates
No idea how you no call that kyrie layup. Its gotta be either a charge or block
Here’s why…
Very nice possession that ended in a great Kyrie finish.
Surprising cushion they gave LBJ on that three…
They were worried about the Love post-up.
Keep running the Love/James P/R into the postup until they stop it.
Keep feeding love, please. It’s the Cavs’ best mismatch right now.
Good look from KLove
Time for Deron early?
Don’t deviate. This is the run that Toronto didn’t make last game. It’s expected.
Get the ball to love in the post, already.
CFRYE!
Great pass to the corner, KEv.
Kyrie needs to turn things around from three…
Is this the Raps biggest lead of the series?
The world didn’t need another sing-song Hyundai Hybrid commercial…
It’s catchy though.
Maybe the first 5,000 times they played it…
Could use a good game from Kyrie too.
Kyrie needed to grab that ball…
Toronto looking like they should’ve started tucker from the Start. LEt’s get the ball to Love.
Kevin held on that rebound…
Very similar pace to last game so far.
Starting lineup has been disappointing lately. Like for three months.
Those fans in Jurassic Park look cold…
Time to do a Kickstarter campaign to get Hubie to retire…
Kyrie. Insane finish.
Kyrie has a layup every time if he cuts back door.
Cleveland has stopped four transition opportunities.
Great strip by Ky!
Cavs being way too casual on offense…
Kev rebounding so well this series.
Ugh. Hubie.
JR BLOCK!
Was hoping this game would feature Doris Burke as an analyst. She is so good. Hubie at the microphone and Tony Brothers with the whistle almost make me want to dial 911.
EG was hoping for Doris Burke too.
Absolutely… DB is the best!
Where’s that guy who posted here saying Raptors in 6?
Time to hit the mute button… Hubie Brown again… just awful
Raps going with Tucker now in starting lineup…
https://twitter.com/CavsJMike/status/861299603328688130
You know even the NBA Countdown crew thinks it’ll be a sweep when they spend most of their time discussing whether or not Lowry will be back with Raps next year…
Fiz is the best…
https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/861298398510563328
Oh no… Tony Brothers and Scott Foster “officiating” today…
Better now than against the Celtics…
https://twitter.com/mcten/status/861285058174484490
Pretty much the only way Toronto wins today is if the Cavs pull a mail-it-in regular-season performance. Which they have no reason to do.
Lowry basically conceded the East to Cleveland until further notice, because LeBron:
https://sports.yahoo.com/news/kyle-lowry-theyve-got-lebron-james-nobodys-closing-gap-164733328.html
EG, you and DW have a tall order to match your last two almost dead on predictions. I think your prediction for this game looks just about right. The Cavs offense is now ranked #1 in the playoffs over Golden State, and our victory margin of 10+ plus pts ranks second only to GS.
I know! Those first two were spooky!