Playoff Live Thread: Cavs @ Raptors, Game 2 (Do They Blow It Up?)

The Cavs return to the Air Canada Center for game 2 against the Raptors, and the stakes are actually high, just not for the Wine & Gold. The Raptors have faced their demise against the Cavs in the past two playoffs. Last year Cleveland beat them in just four games after taking six games to do the same in the 2016 playoffs. If the Cavs can take game two tonight, the Raptors will hear the noise that they just cannot get past LeBron James.

It’s hard to see them being able to come back from 0-2 and win at least two games on the road or even win four of the remaining five games. I’m getting ahead of myself though. Game one in the series was hard fought by both teams, the Cavs just weathered the storm better down the stretch after coming back from being down by as many as 13 points. Let’s get into tonight’s game.

Three Things To Watch

1. LeBron had a bad game 1. He said so himself to media. He put up 26 hitting just 12-30 from the floor and 1-8 from deep. He also contributed 13 assists and 11 boards. LeBron is sort of right, even though  was a large reason why the team won. He won’t be that inefficient again, and he won’t be as tired as he was in game one after playing an emotional game seven against Indy just a day before. The Raptors may think they covered LeBron well last game, but they are fooling themselves. James was just off.

2. Kyle Korver got 17 shots up in game one. That must continue. He hit five of his 12 3-points shots. J.R. Smith needs to keep shooting too. He dropped five of his six 3s. Now, the Cavs must use that gravity this game. Korver and J.R. took just one shot at the rim between the both of them in game one. Teams don’t expect them to cut into the paint, so they can get quality looks when they do actually go down low. Watch in the video below how J.R. Smith is guarded after setting a screen for George Hill. Both Toronto players are pointing to the 3-line. That’s where they assume he’s going. Smith misses the layup shot, but that shot will be there for both him and Korver all night if they want it.

3. The Cavs started Kyle Korver on OG Anunoby. LeBron James started on Serge Ibaka. Tyronn Lue should consider switching those assignments. OG was able to burn Korver a few times with pure speed. He’s not the best 3-point shooter and he’s young, so you don’t necessarily need to stay out on him. LeBron James should cover OG mainly because it would allow him to drop back into the paint with less worry than when he is on Ibaka. OG wants to drive when he can or cut to the hoop. James will stop him if he does that and if he rains from deep, so be it. Serge Ibaka is a good cover for Korver because he’s the type of guy that’s been popping out to 3-land more frequently. Korver doesn’t need to help down low as often as he did in game one. He’s not as well suited to that as James. Ibaka took just three of his eight shots in the paint, so he’s not trying to bang. One of his inside shots was even a tip-in. Korver may not be the biggest guy, but he can play decent post defense and he will stop a lot of the tip-ins that happened in game one just because he boxes out consistently.

The Cavs have a great chance tonight. They survived a ‘poor’ LeBron game and got the win. James should be looking to dominate and take this series quickly with a bounce back performance, so I’m picking Cavs 121-111.