 | Cleveland | 109 | Final Box Score | 102 | Toronto |  |
 A+ | P. Tucker46 MIN, 14 PTS, 12 REB, 1 AST, 4 STL, 5-11 FG, 4-7 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -7 +/- I know, the series deciding shot went down in his face from LeBron, but he fought so hard out there tonight, playing all but 2 minutes, and gave LeBron everything he had. Credit to this man. | ||||||||
 B+ | S. Ibaka35 MIN, 23 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 10-18 FG, 2-6 3FG, 1-1 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -4 +/- This was the good version of Ibaka, for the most part. Hit enough of his shots, especially late as the team rallied. The series didn’t end the way the team wanted, but Ibaka showed enough tonight of why they brought him in. | ||||||||
 C+ | J. Valanciunas25 MIN, 8 PTS, 5 REB, 0 AST, 1 STL, 4-11 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 3 BLK, 0 TO, 3 +/- I’m being generous with the grades today, seeing as the season is over, but JV was a little too inconsistent today. Showed signs of great rim protection early, but struggled against Frye again and looked lost at times. Wasn’t playoff JV enough in this series. | ||||||||
 A+ | C. Joseph40 MIN, 20 PTS, 6 REB, 12 AST, 1 STL, 8-11 FG, 1-1 3FG, 3-3 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, -5 +/- This might’ve been the best game I’ve ever seen Cory Joseph play. He was all over the place on both ends of the floor, scoring, creating for others, and giving Kyrie Irving a rough night on defense. This was Cory at his best, and it was great to see. | ||||||||
 B+ | D. DeRozan46 MIN, 22 PTS, 4 REB, 8 AST, 0 STL, 8-18 FG, 0-2 3FG, 6-9 FT, 0 BLK, 4 TO, -2 +/- This was good DeMar. In the first half he had his way offensively, and he created a bunch of nice looks for his teammates. He needed to be great DeMar for them to get the win today though, and he struggled down the stretch. Still, valiant effort, especially with Lowry out. | ||||||||
 B | N. Powell24 MIN, 10 PTS, 6 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 3-10 FG, 2-8 3FG, 2-2 FT, 0 BLK, 3 TO, -12 +/- As with most of the season, Norm was a little bit of an enigma for me. One possession he looks like a future All-Star, the next he has a puzzling turnover or misses an open layup at the rim. Still believe in his talent, and I hope he gets more minutes and opportunities next season. | ||||||||
 D | P. Patterson10 MIN, 0 PTS, 1 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 0-2 FG, 0-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 1 +/- Pat wasn’t the guy the team needed him to be in the playoffs, and that continued tonight. Not sure what the issue is, but he just hasn’t looked right for a while. | ||||||||
 B | F. VanVleet8 MIN, 3 PTS, 0 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 1-2 FG, 1-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -2 +/- Came in for some good first half minutes, and hit a huge three in the third quarter rally. Love his effort and fight. | ||||||||
 C | D. Carroll6 MIN, 2 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 1-2 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -7 +/- That he only played 6 minutes tonight tells you all it should about Carroll’s series. No idea what the plan is going forward, because through the first two years of his four year deal, he hasn’t been the player he was brought in to be. | ||||||||
 D | Dwane Casey Really wanted to give Casey a better grade for finally starting Tucker tonight, but it’s hard not to feel like that’s a day late and a dollar short. The players fought hard in this one, but Casey needed to get more out of this roster early in the series and make his adjustments sooner. | ||||||||
Things We Saw
- LeBron is just too good. He took over this series from the opening tip of game 1 to the close of game 4, and maybe that’s all it was ever going to be. He’s one of the greatest we’ve ever seen, and when he’s on his game like this, it might just be too much of a task to ask any team to beat him.
- If Kyle Lowry had been available, maybe the Raptors pick up a couple wins at ACC in these last two games. Hard to know for sure, but would’ve been nice to see him in there tonight.
- This is going to be an interesting summer, and it’s hard to know or predict anything(but we’re surely going to try in the coming weeks). It’s been a great year though, and a fun team. Great time to be a Raptors fan and writer, and thank you all for being there with me.
