With a lightning-quick turnaround between the second round and the Eastern Conference Finals (in which the Toronto Raptors are participating!), there was little time to bask in the glow of Sunday’s Game 7 victory. When the locker room opened to the media shortly after the game, scouting binders for the Cleveland Cavaliers were already in each locker stall. As much as the Raptors achieved history, they have a chance to further that story starting Tuesday, and they’re not going to have a chance if they’re not well-prepared and ready to hit the ground running.
And so the Raptors took off for Cleveland almost immediately, meaning there’s no media availability Monday. Instead, head coach Dwane Casey was available on a conference call. Here are some news and notes from that availability, as well as a few Cavaliers notes.
Valanciunas not expected early in series
Casey doesn’t sound like a guy expecting his starting center back early in the series.
“We don’t know. He’s gonna get treatment day to day. I don’t foresee it but I’m not committing to it” he said when asked about Valanciunas’ status for Games 1 and 2.
Anyone hoping for a late-series return may not want to hold their breath, either. The Lithuanian is still “a ways away from getting out there and contributing in a playoff game,” and the team is understandably going to take precaution with their 24-year-old.
“We’re not going to jeopardize further hurting his ankle just to get him out there for a game. If he’s not 100 percent, we’re not gonna damage it. I don’t foresee him in these first couple of games,” Casey said.
If Valanciunas can’t go, there’s immense pressure on the frontcourt duo of Bismack Biyombo and Patrick Patterson. Someone will have to step up in a support role, too, because the Cavaliers aren’t a team that’s going to let small lineups go unpunished. Two of their three rotation bigs are rangy, sure, but Kevin Love can take a smaller forward onto the block, and Timofey Mozgov theoretically looms on the bench if the Raptors have success going small. Lucas Nogueira and Jason Thompsonwill be called on once again, and whoever’s at the center spot will have their hands full with Tristan Thompson.
That’s primarily going to be Biyombo, who plays a similar style of game.
“They’re exactly alike. They’re the same, except I don’t think Biz changed his left-hand free-throw shooting,” Casey said, before going on quite a tangent about how much he admires Thompson. “I love that kid…He’s a great young man who’s really developed himself into a big-time player. He brings the energy and they’re a great offensive rebounding team because of Tristan.”
This is the rare matchup this season where the Raptors won’t have the edge at center, at least as long as Valanciunas sits.
Casey on Cavs and LeBron
The most terrifying part of the Raptors-Cavaliers matchup is how things look with respect to 3-point shooting. Over three regular season meetings, the Cavaliers shot better from long range than they did against any other team. The Cavs shot better from long range than any other Raptors opponent did. The Raptors had the second-worst 3-point defense in the league. The Cavaliers were absolute fire from outside in their first two playoff series, even setting a single-game record for 3-point proficiency.
“That’s gonna be the issue,” Casey said. “They’re such a great transition team, they’re such a great penetrate pick-and-roll team that you try to stop everything, you don’t stop anything…Our work is cut out for us.”
What exactly to try to stop is a very difficult question. If the Raptors load up to stop LeBron James, he’s a willing and deadly enough passer, flanked by strong enough shooters, to make a defense pay. Let James go one-on-one in order to try to slow his teammates, and he’ll drop 40.
“What he brings to the table now is more lethal than his scoring,” Casey said. “His passing is probably his biggest weapon. Not only that, because he’s such a smart player, he sees the floor, he finds those shooters, and they don’t even have to move their hands.”
Switch pick-and-rolls and the Cavs will exploit mismatches. Decline to, and they’ll have the space to attack, or worse when it’s not James, shoot. All defensive strategies are imperfect, but with Biyombo at the back end and a long-time emphasis on the paint, where the non-James Cavs haven’t spent a ton of time, the Raptors are probably going to dare Cleveland to beat them from outside and pray they can recover.
“If we have Jonas and Bismack in there, it’s very tough to switch 1 through 5,” Casey said. “Our philosophy all year has been to take away the paint first…There are some things we have to do to adjust (to the 3-point shooting).”
In terms of stopping James, it’s worth remembering that Casey was a part of the Dallas coaching staff that capably slowed James in the finals a few years back. Casey was adamant that “every series is different” but did point out that a big thing in that Dallas series was someone new or unheralded stepping up in big games and big spots.
“That one player, that key player, could be the guy who could step up and make a difference. He may not have even played in the last series,” he said.
Looking at the matchup, maybe that’s a James Johnson to help on James. Maybe it’s a Norman Powell to help on Irving and J.R. Smith. Maybe it’s one of the backup bigs. Whoever the role player, though, the job of checking James is falling mostly on the capable shoulders of DeMarre Carroll, who was brought in for exactly moments like this.
“He’s exactly what we need at that position to guard some of the power threes that are in this league right now,” Casey said, unknowingly agreeing with my Game 7 assessment. “I thought yesterday was one of his better game s defensively…In this series, he’s gonna have his hands full.”
Whatever the Raptors try, they know James is going to be difficult, and there’s a ton of respect for him from the Toronto side.
“In my heart, I feel like LeBron James is the best player in the NBA right now,” Casey said. Casey also said he believed Lowry’s comments that James was the best player other than Steph Curry were misconstrued and are a non-story. “There’s nothing but respect in our locker room and our organization for LeBron James.”
Irving daps up ACC crowd
The Cavaliers seemed relieved to finally find out who their opponent is, but they weren’t willing to concede much in terms of how the matchup makes them feel. “We’re a totally different team than in the regular season,” LeBron James said of Toronto’s 2-1 record against them, per ESPN. Tyronn Lue added that the Cavaliers could learn “Nothin’,” from that season series.
Kyrie Irving did offer one takeaway, at least. “Being in Toronto, that’s one thing I probably can take from the regular season is how loud it is in there,” he said.
Assorted
*Casey doesn’t think Cleveland having nine days off will have much of an impact over the life of the series: “You take rest over rust at any time in the playoffs. My experience has been over the years has been that a couple of days off doesn’t hurt you…Hopefully they’re a little rusty, but sooner or later, that rest is going to kick in and be a plus for them.” He did allow that Game 7 might carry over for the Raptors initially. “That’s your hope…You hope you don’t lose the momentum, the confidence, the rhythm.”
*He also played his favorite card: “Nobody expected us to be here.” At the same time, Casey conceded that the Cavs are playing like “probably the best team in the league right now” and that the Raptors may have a bad night or two ahead, though it won’t be an issue of motivation. He’s also skeptical the Cavs will have an easy time in the series. “Every time you walk on the floor you’ve gotta give yourself a chance. We’re humble but we’re hungry. I do believe our guys will play hard,” he said.
*Somehow, people were still asking him about player motivation. In the conference finals. Seriously. Anyway: “If you have to motivate yourself to play hard at this time of year, we’re in the wrong business. If I have to motivate a player to play hard, either we’ve got the wrong coach or the wrong player.”
Game 1 goes tomorrow at 8:30.
