Live Thread: Raptors @ Cavs
2018-04-03
The Raptors are in Cleveland for their final game against the Cavs this season. The series is tied at 1-1 after the Cavs made a 15 point comeback during the second half of their previous meeting. Since then the Cavs are 5-1. Toronto is 2-2.
The Cavs sit in third in the East with Philly looming. The 76ers have now won two games without their star, Joel Embiid, who is out due to a facial injury. A Cavs loss and a Philly win tonight would have them swap places in playoff seeding.
Tonight’s game is a possible preview of the Eastern Conference Finals.The Cavs have taken it to the Raptors in the LeBron 2.0 era in the playoffs, but Toronto has grown up and seem more serious about giving Cleveland a challenge. With that being said, this game will either be very competitive or a weird game of chess where both teams try to give up nothing to be used in a future scouting report.
Things To Watch
- The Raptors like to play a smaller lineup for stretches of games. They’ll play Fred Van Fleet with Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. That’s a hard group for the Cavs to guard given their issues with perimeter coverage most of the season. George Hill is not playing tonight, so that will make covering this unit even more difficult. Maybe Cedi Osman will see some time tonight.
- During the last game the Cavs were missing five rotation players and still won. Can the Cavs win convincingly tonight is the question. It would make the team a lot more confident heading into the playoffs if they squashed any talk about the Raptors having a chance once and for all.
- LeBron James and Kevin Love torched the Raptors during their last meetup. They most likely will tonight. The Raptors need to figure out a way to keep these guys from combining for over fifty points. They must figure out some scheme where LeBron thinks twice about carrying the team. And, that scheme can’t leave Love open to hit 3s all night. Jonas Valanciunas shouldn’t be involved in this plan in any way whatsoever, let’s hope the Raptors don’t realize that.
This will be a close game, but the Cavs have the momentum right now. I’m picking them 121-115.
Kyle Korver is a game time decision.
damn… LBJ normally hits that tough fadeaway to the left.
Clarkson with the nice read…. good pullup!
KLOVE WITH THE GREAT POST ENTRY PASS LBJ WITH THE FINISH!!!!
Love & Jose off the charts from deep.
WHAT A PASS LBJ!!!! KLOVE THREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
Boom! Klove stretches it to 16!
NICE BIG TO BIG PASSING!!!! NANCE DRAWS THE FOUL!!!
JOSE FOR THREEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!
LBJ TO HOOD FOR THREEEEEE!!!
JOSE TO HOOD!!!
Good quick hook for Clarkson.
Jose, Love, & JR with jumpers wet.
LBJ’s jumper too!
Calderon one of the steadiest Cavs players…amazing…
Jose shows JC how to be a pt guard. Gets a big hug from KLove after the assisted three
JOSE TO KLOVE AGAIN!!!!!!!!!
Nice game so far.
NICE READ JOSE!!! KLOVE FOR THREEEEE!!!!
Sucks to have jeff and tt on court at same time
Clarkson has managed to get up 5 shots in 6 mins
Ain’t mad at him for that… mad that coaches didn’t put him at off-guard.
JOHNB / MIKEO—agree with you on our defensive schemes —–but ty / midget seem to love that style—-can’t see it changing —unfortunately
Nice D…/s
Sometimes Clarkson is so infuriating when he turns into the one man show
Jose needs to run this 2nd unit. Clarkson struggling running the 2nd unit.
Green allows the blowby for Delon Wright.
BENCH GREEN… another AWFUL shot…. Korver on the bailout tho!
Twozus!
ANTE —YOU MEAN HE STILL PLAYS FOR US (—-SARCASM )—-SIXERS UP BY 6 1ST QTR
WOW JR with the stepback fadeaway!!! Pure!!!
The Cavs seppuku lineup…TT and Green…
Definitely… LMAO.
Biggest mistake was not having Zizic or Nance as a starting big.
like that swish has added driving to the hoop —-defenses will have to lay off of him
Neither Lowry nor DeRozan scored a bucket in the 1st quarter. Amazing
Defense wasn’t horrible actually. DeRozan just making good plays… need to do a better job on him.
Cavs still giving up points on a dumb defensive scheme…but I suppose it ain’t gonna change now…
Yeah the switching needs to stop. Trapping probably isn’t a great idea with anyone but nance and green as bigs. Switching saves energy but really exposes this team.
Not bad. Only 24 points given up. Not sure how as they seemed to be getting open all time
Bad call ref… I think JR was in position for that steal.
Yikes! That was a scary fall for LBJ.
Boy our perimeter d is out of position a ton
JR with the hammer!!! Nice drive!
God that scares me anytime someone that athletic comes down like Nance did on one leg. Good thing he is fine
yeah I mentioned earlier–lowry was at nova game last night –am sure he didn’t get back to Cleveland / sleeping until early this morning
Nance nice hustle play draws the foul.
can jose play at this level in the playoffs—I think so for 20-25 minutes / game / remember he has sat a lot this year —not many minutes to be concerned about
Nice defensive stop there that possession!
Crazy great block
I eat crow on Calderon. I probably already said something to that effect, but he has been one of our more consistent players all year long. Just really solid and tonight on fire.
Lowry is hung over. I love Jose but he should not be putting it to Kyle this well
yeah for jose –‘put that fork away ‘—-agree with a.c. we are working hard to score –raptors buckets coming too easy
Good thing we are hot because our d is porous so far. Lots of open lanes.
LBJ jumper!!! Shaky start and the Cavs up 5!!!
Making Lowry defend…nice job Jose…
Nance nice little midrange jumper!
Jose En Fuego!!!
Jose Jose Jose Jose Jose Jose!
So green started over nance. I find that troubling.
Jose couple big buckets early.
Argh. Larry. Stop biting.
Jose taking it to Lowry
I LIVE IN SANDUSKY AREA —GET IT CHANNEL 30—FOX SPORTS
Yeah, Columbus here, not on anywhere…streaming the FSO feed right now…
Absolutely brutal finding a stream for this. Both FSO channels here are nada, one on a rain delayed Reds game, and the other the Bluejackets…hope it’s worth the effort…
That sucks because League Pass probably blacking out game.
YOU ARE CORRECT —CLF—-LEBRON BAILS OUT STUPID DECISIONS BY OUR COACHING STAFF—-ONLY PROBLEM —-BY BAILING THEM OUT THEY WILL REPEAT THEIR STUPIDITY
LOL ain’t that the truth!
Where is Nance?
He injured?
Or Zizic… or Cedi if they really wanna play small ball.
Every time Jeff Green starts, my estimation for our coaches drops another notch.
He can’t board or shoot.
Yes, he did a decent job on DeRozan last time, but damn.
They probably see him as their ‘ace’ Derozan defender, like they see him as their Durant defender…
Yup… they’re obsessed with athleticism and overlooking his BB IQ.
Agree. But don’t start him. It throws everything else off. Jonas kills us down low. Weak on the glass. Poor spacing.
If Love starts at the 5, Bron has to be the 4 with two of Hood, JR, Korver, Cedi on the wing.
Green can’t even take JV off the dribble… LBJ bailing out the coaches per usual.
Jose drives like Green should. Two green threes already is horrible
Yup… a brick and airball. Should’ve already been pulled.
Green should be pulled next dead ball if a competent coach is at the helm.
YOU BEAT ME TO IT ?????????????????
AC going off about Green
Why is green starting?
BELIEVE TONIGHT’S GAME- ( LIKE PROBABLY ALL THE GAMES )— WILL DEPEND ON HOW MUCH EFFORT / LEBRON IS WILLING TO EXERT / SHOW THE RAPTORS ——PICKING RAPTORS—-113–109 —CAVS / SIXERS WILL SWITCH SPOTS ——–‘FOR A DAY ” ONLY !!
“FREE ANTE “—–GO CAVS !!—–NOT PUTTING TOO MUCH INTO THIS GAME WIN OR LOSE