Recap: Cleveland 115, Toronto 94 (or, “I am not right handed.”)

Like Inigo Montoya and the Man in Black, LeBron was smiling because he has a secret. He is not right handed. LeBron toyed with the Raptors for three quarters and then dispatched them efficiently with his left hand to cap a 36-17 fourth quarter by the Cavs. Toronto failed to summon any energy this game, as Cleveland waited to weather a storm that never came. Then the King laughed and conked the Raps on the head.

First Quarter:

The lack of buzz in the Air Canada center for a game three was shocking. Even the Raptors’ fans seemed resigned to their fate. Not to toot my own horn, but I called this one pretty early. LeBron had his stoic game face on and seemed focused, despite a couple turnovers. He wasn’t going to let this team lose, but the Cavs weren’t going to overexert themselves early, either. Cleveland focused on getting the ball to Kevin Love inside and he scored 10 points including a dunk on this beautiful feed from the King and screen from Uncle Drew.

Toronto was forced to start Cory Joseph at the point and though the pregame reports said Kyle Lowry would play, he ended up a DNP. Toronto had good success getting the ball to Jonas Valanciunas inside, and Serge Ibaka feasted on a selection of long twos that the Cavs were content to barely contest. Cleveland didn’t want to double team and Jonas, Big V, and DeRozan each dropped eight in the quarter. But with Toronto’s inability to shoot threes, Cleveland stayed right with them. Without exerting a ton of effort, the Cavs finished this frame up 28-14.

Second Quarter:

LeBron, Deron, Shumpert, Frye, and Korver started this one out as James scored the first seven for Cleveland, flashing his suddenly effective free throw stroke and his silky smooth three. The James-led bench lineups are killing teams right now, and tonight was no different. The Cavs feasted on the rotting corpses of Patrick Patterson, Delon Wright, and Demarre Carroll until a couple quick buckets from Norman Powell and DeRozan got Toronto going, cut the Cavs’ lead to five. Powell did a nice job of getting inside on drives and cuts, but it was mostly due to the Cavs not really giving a crap.

What the hell happened to Demarre Carroll? He used to play legitimately intimidating defense and was a threatening two way player. Now? He’s got two years and $31 million left on his sign-and-retire contract. He plays with no intensity and is content to coast through games. I’m not complaining, but even with Canadian taxes, he’s stealing money.

The wine and gold’s advantage ended when Deron Williams went to the bench and Kyrie returned. Irving spent the rest of the quarter murdering the concept of a pick-and-roll as he consistently made the absolute worst decisions when isolating or playing two-man. Irving refused to attack the basket as both the ball-handler and the pick-setter and ignored wide open lanes to settle for long twos and kept crossing up his roll man. I think I heard David Wood groaning from hundreds of miles away. Something is clearly wrong with Uncle Tendonitis. He finished the quarter 1-7, and the one basket he did hit was a three with terrible form that surprised us all by going through the basket.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGaM4v2xr3M

Cleveland stopped playing defense on DeMar DeRozan, and DD started going off. He went 4-6 in the quarter and scored 13 as his free throw stroke, his drives, and his unstoppable 20-footers found twine. Meanwhile, Iman Shumpert did head scratching things like going for a DeRozan piggy back ride while trying to defend a sideline out of bounds play. I’d explain it, but it’s too much work. Shump remains an enigma.

LeBron also heated up with 10 in 12 mintues, getting to the line five times and unleashing a lefty layup preview of things to come. James also drained a funny three when the Cavs’ offense stalled, Shump fell over, and James just said, “oh. I guess I’ll make this” over Patrick Patterson at the top of the key.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention announcer Hubie Brown and the demented screed he unleashed this quarter. It went so far as to garner a Cleveland.Com article by Joe Vardon, where Hubie’s ramblings were compared to Joe Buck’s World Series man crush on Kyle Schwarber. Hubie had some bizarre points: once talking about LeBron initiating a foul when Jonas went over his back and then literally dragged James 20 feet out of the paint, and another where Hubie argued that LeBron pushed off before a clear path foul that netted the King a two freebies and the ball (out of which, Cleveland got one measly point). I tweeted, “Go home, Hubie. You’re drunk.”

Despite ending up with a 52-49 halftime lead Toronto went 0-9 from three in the half, and the Cavs seemed more than happy to let Serge Ibaka be Serge Ibricka. Air Canada was as excited as it would get late in the second when Kyrie’s p/r adventures, turnovers, and DeMar “Kobe North” did their work. But any patient Cleveland fan was fine. The Cavs mostly played like crap, and were still down only three. The Cavs finished the half 5-11 from three, and Kyle foreshadowed the second half by doing his best Tom Cruise impersonation for this “hit the brakes, and he’ll fly right by” three, after which Canadian NBA fans said, “uh oh.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbYCkfS9TCk

Third Quarter

Home teams have got to learn to come out with some energy in the third. Now more than ever, the richie riches don’t deign to descend to their lower bowl seats until about halfway through the quarter, and many a comeback has started during the third inning stretch this playoffs. Not that I’m complaining. The seeds of Cleveland’s second half domination were planted early.

Kyrie played better, and actually moved the rock and drove to the basket a little. He also broke up a couple plays defensively. Kevin Love continued to dominate the defensive boards (five in the quarter, 12 in the game). In fact, Toronto grabbed one offensive rebound in the entire game: a testament to their lack of effort. The Cavs outrebounded team Canada 12-6 in the frame. Kevin picked himself up a three, and a and-1, and balanced Cavalier scoring let Cleveland edge out to a 79-77 lead.

When La Flama Blanca canned twin triples late, the Cavs cracked the concrete, and despite DeMar Spreewell isolating his way to 15 in the quarter, the dam was about to break up north.

Fourth Quarter

Some players’ best NBA games are equivalent to LeBron’s fourth quarter Friday: 13 points, five rebounds, two dimes, and +19. The dude is a witch doctor, and he might have single handedly eviscerated the Raptors’ whole franchise this quarter. James was surgical in his excision of Canada’s playoff dreams.

The very fun “on” lineup, LeBron, Iman, Deron, Thompson, and Kyle “Flame on!”, destroyed the Raps in the 10 minutes they shared the floor.  Flame On! started early by breaking splashing a 25-foot rainmaker courtesy of Deron and then breaking up a two-on-one when he blocked Powell at the rim. It almost made Hubie Brown start crying. (To be fair, Kyle did get away with a foul, but it was still a great hustle play).  Korver blocked a another shot at the rim by P.J. Tucker (not a foul) just a minute later.

Cleveland locked down on Demar, denying him the ball and trapping hard. The wine and gold just snuffed out everything and conceded only rusty jumpers that clanged against the iron. Toronto didn’t score a field goal for almost six minutes after Delon Wright hit a 21-footer at the 11:06 mark. A 17-3 run by the Cavs ensued.

The run included a sweet and-1 by Thompson, 6-6 free throws by the King, a smooth LaTrey, and a ridiculous impromptu alley oop after James spotted Thompson free on the right side of the rim. After big V cut the lead to 17 with 5:20 left, Korver drained a silky pull-up from the charity stripe, and LeBron capped the night with a filthy turnaround (more below) to extend his total to 35 and the Cavs’ lead to 21 before subbing with 3:27 left. Game Over.

Conclusions:

James was never losing this game, and Toronto never threatened. Even when they built their small leads, it was mainly due to Cavalier mistakes and malaise. LeBron was clearly engaged, but saved himself to put Toronto away in the fourth. More than one commentator has noted that James might be playing the best ball of his career right now. James’ 35 included 15-16 from the free throw line, 2-4 from three, and 9-16 from the field, and it came in every phase of the game: transition drives, cuts, post-ups, pull-ups, pick-and roll handler, p/r roller, and putbacks for good measure. Every time Cleveland needed a basket to get it close, he got it. Bron beat the shot clock repeatedly and completely demoralized the Raps.

David Griffin has built a perfect offense around LeBron, with TT as the only non-three point shooter. The four and five-out offenses just open the lane so much. One through twelve, this is the best Team LeBron’s ever played on, and I can’t express how good James was in prose.

The pièce de résistance, was LeBron’s late turnaround left-handed shot to give him 35. It sparked a dialogue in-game and post-game around the fact that James is actually left handed. WAIT, WHAT?! I honestly didn’t know this, but Hubie Brown did. Hubie Brown and Pepperidge Farm remember.

"I have no idea why I became a right-handed basketball player… I guess I thought it looked cool." -LeBron James pic.twitter.com/FgRzoI0IwE

— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 6, 2017

Aside from LeBron being the Kwisatz Haderach, the other reasons for the Cavs’ win included their rebounding and their front court. Cleveland punished Toronto on the glass 49-25, giving up just one o-board. K-Love dropped 16 and 13, and TT nine and 12. Love was especially solid inside, going up strong time and again.

Kyle Korver was similarly great with 14 points on five shots. Kyrie called Korver the greatest shooter in the world (flat or round) after the game. When La Flama Blanca and JR are shooting like they were Friday (a combined 7-11), the Cavs are impossible. But the other great thing about both is that they were defending like fiends.

The lone concern outside of Shump being Shump was Kyrie’s knee. Reportedly suffering from tendonitis, he’s not moving well and seems afraid to attack, but unafraid to jack. K.I. went 7-21 and even had Ty Lue annoyed in the post-game presser. But he adjusted in the second half and wasn’t bad in the third. He’s still got to stop shooting that too-long pullup three. Irving was 1-5 outside.

I give no credence to Lowry’s big night. No one else on the Raptors beat Cleveland, and Lue (and James) are completely outcoaching Dwayne Casey. After starting, Valanciunas barely played in the second half until he got in during garbage time. Casey just seems at a total loss on what to do this game. He even forgot he had a center. You have to feel for him though. In the age of the three, the Raptors team can’t shoot. They were 2-18 to Cleveland’s 13-23 from the arc – all extinction level asteroids.

Serge Ibaka, Kyle Lowry (I don’t even expect him to play), Patrick Patterson, and P.J. Tucker all started making their free agency plans. Don’t expect them to do anything that has the remotest chance of resulting in injury in game four. This series is over. The Raptor’s razor chance of victory evaporated with Kyle Lowry’s injury (starter Cory Joseph was 2-12). I remarked after the game that I understand why Boston didn’t bother trading at the deadline. It’s probably a better strategy to use those Nets’ picks to load up on guys who’ll be good in four or five years when LeBron might not still be the best player in the multiverse.

Seven Down. Nine to go.