Recap: Cavs 112, Raptors 106 (Or, Same Old Story)

The Cavs took care of the Raptors tonight for the second time in 13 days. At this point, the Raptors must be wondering what they did to deserve LeBron James being in the Eastern Conference. It doesn’t seem like they are ever going to figure out how to get past the Cavs.

Typically, LeBron James is the one who is ending the Raptors’ dreams. Tonight was different though. Don’t get me wrong, James still played excellent getting 27 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists. The rest of the starters, however, all contributed with double digit scoring. Rodney Hood put up 17 points on 6-12 shooting. Jeff Green added 12 of his own, with seven coming in the fourth. Kevin Love had 18 points on 4-8 shooting to go with 15 boards. He went 4-6 from downtown.

And, the real star of the evening, Jose Calderon, put up 19 points to go with four rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a block. Jose led the Cavs with a team high +27. Toronto’s backcourt couldn’t handle that explosion. DeMar DeRozan put up 19 along with seven assists, while Kyle Lowry had just five points and three assists.

The Cavs started the evening in a way that had me wondering if they were going to show up. Jonas Valanciunas set a screen on the very first play of the night for DeMar DeRozan before rolling to the rim. Somehow, Jeff Green and Kevin Love stayed high on DeRozan while Jonas got to score over Jose who had to “help” over. The Cavs then botched their defense on the following play to let Serge Ibaka hit a wide open 3-pointer.

This was a theme the entire game. Cleveland kept switching whenever a pick and roll happened. If Jonas or Ibaka were involved though, they would often try to trap and recover. It never worked. There was always a third guy having to rush from the corner to stop a layup and then not being able to get back to run their original man off the 3-line. Or, Jeff Green trying to stop Jonas solo.

It was a miracle the Raptors went just 11-34 from deep with all the defenders Cleveland was sending down low. Jonas ended the night with 17 and 10. Ibaka had 16 and 12. The Raptors outscored the Cavs 56-28 in the paint.

Offensively, Cleveland didn’t do much better to start. Jeff Green missed two 3s badly right away. It took Jose using a Love screen to the basket to open the scoring for the Cavs. Jose had 11 in the quarter on 5-5 video game level shooting and feasted on the Raptors using some LeBron screens in ultimate “I’m old and will outsmart you” mode.

Cleveland also hit five 3s. The King chipped in ten of his own in the opening quarter. After one, Cleveland led 28-24.

Cleveland started the second quarter with  Tristan Thompson and Kyle Korver attempting to run some two man stuff, which merited a fail blog post, as neither guy knew where the other was trying to move to. The lead went away quickly because the Cavs simply couldn’t score. Jordan Clarkson was acting like a black hole. In about nine minutes of play in the first half he was 1-6 and -10. The Cavs only offense during the early part of the second came after Jeff Green bricked a 3 so badly TT grabbed the o-board and found Korver falling out of bounds to convert a hard mid-ranger while getting fouled for an and-1 opportunity.

The Cavs went on a push though. Midway in the quarter, they went on a 21-4 run to go up 56-40 with 3:33 left. During the run, Love canned three 3s. Rodney and Jose also dropped 3s. Six of the seven made buckets were assisted on. The Cavs had just 18 assists all night to put that number in perspective.

Jose even whipped a Tom Brady level pass to Hood for a dunk, which is actually pretty fitting considering Jose is dinosaur age like Brady. The pass came after the King stripped Ibaka from behind.

James also had a ridiculous falling out of bounds after going the length of the floor pass to Hood for a 3. Love grabbed the steal that sparked the play.

All good things must come to an end though. Kyle Lowry dropped his only 3 of the game after a slow recovery by Jose on a Jonas screen. The Cavs then gave up a 13-4 run to end the quarter and went into halftime up only eight, 60-52.

Cleveland started the third quarter looking sluggish as usual. In the  first minute, Calderon coughed the ball up off of James’ back and Lowry got a layup. Jonas Valanciunas did work in the quarter and got seven. DeMar also got seven. In the end though, the Raptors couldn’t eat into the Cavs lead at all. Cleveland went up by as many as 11, but still finished the quarter up eight.

Towards the end of the third there was a fun sequence where James took a charge from C.J. Miles, but the very next play down James ended up getting called for a charge on Miles. Hood also had a nice shot over Jonas after a switch where he just dribbled into a mid-ranger.

The Cavs started the fourth with LeBron on the bench, but they kept the lead. Jeff Green had a nice floater over Jakob Poetl to start. He followed up with a 3, which helped stop Fred Van Fleet’s attempt to bring the Raptors back. Fleet opened the action with two 3s of his own. Green got further in on Fleet later blocking him when he tried to take TT off the dribble.

James had nine in the final frame. With 1:33 left the starters checked out with the lead at 12. The Raptors cut the lead to four after three straight turnovers and the starters had to come back with 11 seconds left to make sure nothing crazy happened to take the win away.

Gripes

1. Per usual, the Cavs defensive schemes were awful. Why switch Green or Jose onto Jonas for any reason ever? He’s simply too big and will scramble the defense when guys crash to help. Again, why trap with a big guy rolling to the rim? The Cavs can’t execute traps well enough to not breakdown after one rotation. Yes, DeMar and Lowry were held in check, but this game could have been much easier if the defensive schemes made sense. The Raptors shot 40.7% for the evening, but it was more a product of missed shots than anything.
2. Jonas should have been played off the floor earlier then the fourth and that would have helped the Cavs play better defense, but the Cavs didn’t do anything to make that happen. They didn’t run nearly enough pick and rolls. They didn’t run an offense for much of the evening. It was a lot of standing and one pass quick shots.
3. Jordan Clarkson is a chucker, what’s new? He was a team low -15 when on the floor.
4. TT scored zero points in 13 minutes. Why is he still playing so much. Larry Nance had six points and one rebound. However, he just looks better and functions better on the floor. He can come out on a pick and roll and not mess up the entire defensive rotation when recovering.
5. pleasestopshooting3sjeffgreen.com This will be a site soon enough. Green had 12 points and three blocks, but he took five threes and made just two (which is a great percentage, it’s just too many for him). He can’t be a spot up guy. Larry Drew must figure out a way to get him the ball on the move more, because he’s really effective when he’s cutting or driving to the hoop.

Hypes

1. LeBron and Love just put in solid nights of work. They made timely shots and helped right the team to make the game winnable. That’s sometimes all you need.
2. Especially when Jose Calderon gets hot. Jose was an animal tonight making his first six shots, and it’s not sustatinable, but there are takeaways to be made. He should continue to start, even when George Hill returns. His ability to use a LeBron screen alone is merit for that. The fact that LeBron lets him bring the ball up court says a ton too. Tonight he morphed into a 20 year old. If he can just be a young 32 instead of 36 most nights, that’s gonna be a win for Cleveland.
3. Rodney Hood continues to look more comfortable. His off the dribble game is better than I thought, but he needs to consistently contribute. In the playoffs, he could be very helpful. He’s moving in the right direction.
4. This win was a solid one for the Cavs. This loss was a terrible one for the Raptors. The Raptors can’t seem to catch a break against James. They have to be dreading another meeting in the playoffs right now.