Recap: Cavs 116, Raptors 78 (Or, You Officially Have Our Attention)

I don’t know what’s going on here, but #0 sure looks tough! (via cleveland.com)

So much of the sports fandom experience is about expectations. If the old theorem holds true that Happiness = Reality – Expectations, then the sports fan can apply a similar line of logic… say, Excitement = Reality – Expectations, or along those lines. What were our expectations heading into the 2016 playoffs, and how are those being met by reality? Did we expect a Western Conference Finals matchup between any teams other than historic Golden State and San Antonio? Did we expect an Oklahoma City Thunder team to hold a convincing 3-1 lead over that very Golden State team in their series? After witnessing the Cavs barrel though the Eastern Conference to a 10-0 start while setting offensive records along the way and making double-digit victories seem as common as a Draymond Green can-can kick, did we expect the Cavs to return to Cleveland looking to turn around a 2-2 series that had a chance of slipping out their grasp?

The Cavs have made 41 3-pt FG this series, 36 fewer than through Game 4 last series. #TORvsCLE pic.twitter.com/Q2j5ug70mV

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 25, 2016

Well for starters, the Cavs’ shooting did what you might expect and progressed from their woeful display the last four games toward their playoff average (as shown above). Plus, Kevin Love sat out the fourth quarter. Again. But it wasn’t for the reasons a Cleveland fan might fear. Not to mention the Cavs did something somewhat unexpected and put on their finest defensive performance of the season. It’s Exciting stuff. In the wake of Wednesday night’s Game Five, the Cleveland Cavaliers have announced to their opponent: “Okay, you officially have our full, undivided, and unequivocal attention.”

(before diving in, be sure to check out CtB’s Tom Pestak and his *ahem* “Insta”Cap where he gives an instant Game 5 video reaction that is certainly not long in the tooth!)

First Quarter
We’ll start this recap the same way the Cavs started the game: with an emphasis on Kevin Love. Similar to tactics they’ve used in the past, the team responded to a poor pair of performances from Love by engaging the power forward early and often. He would finish the quarter 4-of-4 for 12 points, including two threes. On one play, he allowed the left side of the floor to clear out while squared up against Toronto center Bismack Biyombo just inside the arc. Love put the ball on the floor and drove without fear directly into Biyombo — who had absolutely dominated the big men matchups the prior two games in Toronto — then wiggled along the baseline and earned two free throws off a missed reverse layup. The free throws were Love’s first in three games, and were demonstrative of the aggression he and the Cavs brought from tipoff.

https://vine.co/v/i9vIxuWB9lE

Kyrie Irving contributed 11 points of his own in the period with five made baskets on a series of buttery jumpers. The Cavs had it going and started stretching a lead early.

Cleveland overall was much improved defensively compared to what they’d shown to that point in the series. The Cavs continued the strategy they employed in the fourth quarter of Game Four by trapping Toronto star guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan and sending a help defender off of screens. The strategy itself was relatively simplistic but it was the dogged execution by Cavaliers players relentlessly closing out on shooters and frenetic switches that left the Raptors reeling by the end of the quarter. On one Toronto possession, Kyrie Irving (he of much maligned defense) reached a hand in to force DeMar DeRozan to pick up his dribble and give the ball up to Lowry.  Kyrie recovered to Lowry, and J.R. Smith, understanding the shot clock situation, darted towards the top of the key to bother Lowry perfectly which forced a wild double-pump jumper that missed everything, resulting in a 24-second violation.

On the Raptors’ side, center Jonas Valanciunas made his return from injury midway into the quarter. While his teammate Biyombo has broken out in stellar fashion during Valanciunas’ absence in the playoffs, Valanciunas has emerged as a solid two-way player for Toronto throughout the 2015-16 season. The Lithuanian big man scored a couple baskets, and looked healthy and mobile (and, at one point on defense, was very consciously doing a little tippy-toe dance in and out of the paint to avoid an inoften-called three second violation — much to the bemusement of your author).  After a baseline jumper by Jonas made it 20-16 Cavs, Coach Lue called timeout to talk things over.  Three brilliant plays off the dribble for Kyrie resulted in a 7-0  run and the Cavs were off to the races.  Their energy level jumped a couple notches and a J.R. Smith steal & slam and a Kyrie PU3IT blew the roof off.

https://vine.co/v/i9vUElU66FM

In all, the Cavs threw a haymaker in the first quarter, and it was up to the visiting team to respond. Cleveland rode its starters heavily in the period as Iman Shumpert was the only Cavalier to come off bench, and for a whole 2 minutes… you think this game meant something to the Cavs?? Cavs 37, Raptors 19

Second Quarter
The second frame began with LeBron James and the bench players — incidentally, one of Cleveland’s more devastating lineups and one that continued to build on the Cavs’ lead established in the first. Similar to Game Four, the trio of LeBron, Matthew Dellavedova, and Richard Jeferson was unstoppable in garnering positive looks for the Cavs’ offense; however, instead of running the same play seven consecutive times with success (as in Game Four), the Bron&RJ Delly sandwich had mercy and settled for two back-to-back scores before switching it up. But one of those was a Jefferson alley-oop that literally left a lasting impression.

https://vine.co/v/i9vEaPJ0Aeb

RJ Putting his imprint on this game @cavs pic.twitter.com/UfyIyKNaZ4

— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) May 26, 2016

Cleveland’s defense didn’t let up, forcing Toronto into a 7+ minute stretch without scoring and creating turnovers galore… In fact, the Raptors had more turnovers than field goals nearly four minutes into the quarter. This was a common theme for the night. The turnover-fest was highlighted by a nice steal and breakaway dunk by Jefferson (what a finisher he is, at age 35). In all, the Cavs racked up eight steals in the first half alone, resulting in 20 points for the Wine and Gold.

https://vine.co/v/i9vVArqVKTZ

At 6:20 in the quarter, Kevin Love scored his fifth bucket (5-of-5), equaling his combined made field goals in the previous two games. On the flip side, Kyle Lowry was scoreless until less than six minutes remained in the half despite exploding the past two games for a combined 55 points. The Raptors began implementing the Kitchen Sink playbook, in which they threw everything they could at the steamrolling Cavs, even playing both centers Valanciunas and Biyombo in the same lineup at one point. Nothing the Raptors did seemed to matter.

Every individual for Cleveland played inspired, lockdown defense, including JR Smith’s perfect isolation defense against DeRozan that forced both a miss and an ensuing technical by the Raptor shooting guard. It was a resilient response from JR after getting torched in his matchup two nights before. Tristan Thompson also “rebounded” from his off games in Canada by gathering seven rebounds in the half and not letting himself get punked by Biyombo.

The Cavs went up by 26 with 3:00 on the clock after Kyrie procured an unforced steal that he tossed to a sprinting LeBron for a breakaway jam. Just over a minute later, Kevin Love was able to wrangle a tapped jump ball and made a perfect outlet pass down court to James for a 31 point lead; Love then hit a three (6-for-6) the next possession for a 34 point lead. Cleveland shot 62.5% (5-of-8) from deep in the half. The 31 point lead the Cavs would carry into halftime would be the largest margin in the history of the Conference Finals. Cavs 65, Raptors 34

https://vine.co/v/i9rz0r7vhrJ

Third Quarter
LBJ started the second half of with a bit of nostalgia from the first half: a steal off Kyle Lowry and a dunk in transition. By the time Lowry hit a free throw to become the first Toronto member to reach double digit points nearly a minute into the half, three other Cavaliers already had 14 points. This was actually a very nice quarter for those who are the nostalgic type, as a couple minutes later, Kyrie picked Kyle Lowry’s pocket (try saying that five times fast) and broke away for an and-1 layup. Remember that spiel about expectations earlier in the recap? Well, the “expectation” of Toronto’s comeback ability in the game began to shrink about as fast as the game’s “excitement” factor did.

https://vine.co/v/i9rbww0pa5W

(seen enough of these yet?)

“The weakside activity against Toronto has been so much better,” opines Jeff Van Gundy on the telecast.

“Such great defense,” follows up color commenter Mark Jackson.

By the 6:00 mark in the quarter, the broadcast team is discussing the Oklahoma City-Golden State matchup in the Western Finals.

Cleveland continued its hot shooting and even LeBron got into the three point action with a couple makes in the quarter. The King also blocked Lowry and pushed the ball to Kyrie on the fastbreak for a layup — just in case anyone had forgotten what it looked like when the Cavs scored in transition. Even late in the quarter with ~3:30 to go and a 36 point lead, the Cavs kept pushing every possession, scoring or passing for shots and fouls. They must really have not wanted to play in the fourth quarter. The Cavs got their wish, too, as the starters came out one by one and the home team’s lead even swelled to 40 just before the end of the third period. Cavs 100, Raptors 60

Garbage Time Quarter

The final frame was a treat for the Dahntay Jones and Norman Powell fans of the world. All starters for both teams rode the pine as the bench squads went back and forth. The Raptors’ subs succeeded in whittling the final margin down to 38 but Mozgov got to throw down.Small victories, right?

https://vine.co/v/i9rjww33xI2

Final: Cavs 116, Raptors 78

Thoughts

-Kevin Love has been questioned throughout his Cavaliers tenure for his fit, desire, and a variety of other gripes. His occasional disappearing acts can cause us to wonder when the other shoe will drop even in his better moments, as if his spurts of excellence are a mirage. By this point, however, it’s becoming obvious that as Love goes, so goes the team. In games where he comes out the tunnels looking to establish himself, the Cavs have been dominant, especially in the playoffs. Love’s aggression energizes this Cavs team and when a multifacted playmaker such as he is able to get in a groove it opens up so much more for everyone else. When he’s out there nailing threes, passing across the court, and bullying suckers in the post with strong man dribbles, Kevin Love is the key that unlocks the Cavs hyperoffense. His defense, two games in Toronto notwithstanding (we’re convinced he was held up in Customs that whole time and that was just a Busch-league doppleganger out there, right?), has been drastically improved as well. He’s actually taking on guards at the perimeter and holding his own.

-Those disappearing acts of Love’s, however, won’t have gone away until they’ve gone away. Which is to say, we don’t know when or if Love will have one of his infamous clunkers. What can he and the Cavs do to avoid this on the biggest of stages? Love’s state of mind on a given night seems to have a lot to do with it.

-There have now been 16 games in the 2016 playoffs decided by 25 or more points, including seven games with a final margin of 30. Through three and a half rounds, this is the highest margin of victory ever seen in the NBA playoffs. Teams are certainly getting the best of each other and in the postseason teams just keep their foot on the gas longer until the game is truly out of question late. Top-heavy playing fields and the reliance on the three point shot likely contribute to these wild swings as well.

-It can’t be stated enough how impressive the Cavs played on defense Wednesday night. Some of it was just effort and some was a combination of tactics and a focused execution.  All night they were fighting through screens, unleashing hard traps that forced DeRozan and Lowry to give up the ball, and jumping the passing lanes after those traps to keep the heat on all night.  Sometimes all that frenetic aggression backfires, but the Cavs were very good at recovering after trapping and they correctly conceded shots to the DeMarre Carroll‘s of the world.

They turned in their most complete effort of the season in allowing only 78 points against a team that had been shredding them. Every player pitched in and had a + game on that end of the floor. Delly included, of course:

@KenCarman pic.twitter.com/IHXrvw1IpB

— Jeff Parnell (@JeffKParnell) May 26, 2016

(boy, is Delly annoying… courtesy of Tom for digging this clip up)

-Is it time to stop worrying about LeBron? I mean, not that we were ever worried about him or his play… Except for that jump shot we’re still waiting to fix itself, he’s gonna do it all every game, whatever is needed most at present. His numbers throughout the season and playoffs — his whole career, really — have been a freakish model of excellent consistency. LeBron is always gonna bring it, some night a little more and some a little less. But he is a known quantity and will win you playoff games on his own, if necessary. At this point in his career, James exudes such a confidence that he will return the the Finals and give you as good a chance as anyone at winning a title. It may sound obvious, but it’s the rest of the Cavaliers who serve as the barometer of success. And those “other guys” are playing lights out. It’s a good recipe.

https://twitter.com/SheaSerrano/status/735656626854600704

Stats Are Fun

-in Game 5, LeBron James played 31 minutes two nights after playing 46 the night before.

-speaking of James, on Wednesday night he usurped Shaquille O’Neal for 4th on the all-time playoff scoring list, “passed” Jason Kidd for 3rd in all-time playoff assists, tied Kobe Bryant for the second most free throws in postseason history, and, in all likelihood, will be playing in his sixth consecutive Finals this year. Yawn!

-Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, and James outscored the Raptors 43-34 in the first half of Game 5.

-Cleveland has won its three games in the Conference Finals by a combined 88 points.

-the Cavs are undefeated in playoff games where Love is available and has at least one free throw attempt. (as pointed out by commenter, 6thCity)