Fan Duel Toronto Raptors

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LeBron didn’t believe this was an ‘adverse situation,’ and other post-game notes

Lol. What the hell was that?

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Well, that was hot garbage.

Honestly, though? The eight-hour Greyhound both ways, the mediocre Air BNB, the loss of two days and a lot of sleep, all for what’s probably the ugliest loss in franchise history? Worth it. I just covered a road game (a first) in the Eastern Conference Finals involving the Toronto Raptors. Some are going to want to get reflective and be-proud-for-this-much, others will want to be mad and wonder how they could turn in a performance this awful in such a big spot. I’m…oscillating between the two. We’ll see how I feel about it in the morning before writing my column for tomorrow.

Game 5. Let's get it.

A photo posted by Blake Murphy (@eblakemurphy) on

Until then, here are your post-game notes and quotes.

Butt status: Kicked

“They kicked our butts. That’s the bottom line,” Dwane Casey said to open his post-game availability.

He highlighted rebounding and physicality as reasons but didn’t have an answer for why this keeps happening in Cleveland but not Toronto. It’s not an effort thing, according to Casey, and he was quick to point out that the Raptors just won two big games.

“One thing about it, it’s 3-2,” he said. “It was 2-2, it was embarrassing the way we played tonight, but it’s one game…This series is not over.”

Casey kept returning to “the level of playing with force” and comments on the physicality. Again, it’s unclear what the difference is between home and road, and why that physicality (or whatever it is at the root of this weird phenomenon – Tyronn Lue didn’t have a tangible reason, either) wanes. “We’ve gotta figure that out, the level we’ve gotta get to in this building.”

They sure do, because even if they win Friday at home, they’re coming right back here Sunday with a berth in the NBA Finals on the line.

“We had an opportunity to come in here and do something special and we didn’t get it done,” Casey said. “I don’t know if we were ready for the train that was coming down the tracks for us tonight.”

Yeah, no kidding. The Raptors’ locker room was closed an exceptionally long time after the game, likely as they try to figure things out themselves. DeMar DeRozan said the team will worry about Game 7 in Cleveland once they’re through taking care of Game 6 in Toronto (probably the right approach), while Kyle Lowry was at an understandable loss.

“I don’t know,” Lowry offered. “They play very well here. They protect home….But, uhh, yeah.”


My thoughts exactly, in that I have no earthly idea how to explain it, either.

Swag status: Elevated

All day, the Cavs exuded a quiet confidence and calm about the matter at hand. Their belief in themselves never waned, and there was a strange energy around them about an hour before tip-off. It wasn’t necessarily cockiness or hubris, but it almost seems, in retrospect, that the Cavs knew this was coming.

It was telling, too, that Lue opened his post-game press conference in a light manner, cracking a joke before anyone could even get a question out.


That’s indicative of the swagger the Cavs carried themselves with all night and their own comfort level now that they have control of the series back with a chance to close out on Friday. That’s something Irving had already turned his focus to as he sat in the fourth.


“It’s just a business trip,” Lue said of keeping that momentum up for Friday.


“I’ve been a part of some really adverse situations,” James said of the confidence. “I just didn’t believe this was one of them…I’m not taking away from how big of a game this is…But from the moment we lost Game 4, I was just very calm about the situation.”

Well, there’s your whiteboard material for Game 6, if the game tape isn’t enough.

Lineup notes, finding Love

I keep trying to get the lineup data outside of what I have in my notes, and the NBA page is giving me this:

dumpster-fire

Seriously, though, there’s not much to unpack here. All of the groups were bad. Here are a few notables.

Starters: Toronto’s group was a -13 in 14 minutes. The Cavs were a plus-18 in 19 minutes.
Benchnik Termites: Cleveland’s lethal James-and-bench unit continued to kill Toronto, to the tune of plus-7 in five minutes. That pushes them to a plus-30 in 30 minutes in the series.
Valanciunas and Biyombo: The dual-center look was outscored 5-2 in a shade under three minutes.

No, seriously, the two centers played nearly three minutes together. That might be something I look more closely at for Friday, as it’s something I’ve been asked a lot about. In broad terms, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to play them together, but there are matchups against which it’s tenable, if the Raptors leverage the advantages well. They didn’t even bother to try to leverage those edges here.

And again, my biggest issue once blowouts are done is that we learn next to nothing. The plays, the coverages, the rotations, the execution, none of those things at the margins move the needle much when the outcome is decided by 38 points. We’ll look at them, as always, but when everything the Cavs do works and everything the Raptors do doesn’t, and every matchup is a decisive Cavs victory, there aren’t major lessons to glean. This was the case after Game 1, too, and it was only after Game 2 was a little tighter that we started to see what Toronto may be able to do differently.

There’s also this stat that just about sums up anything you need to know about lineups: James, Irving, and Love combined for 71 points on 27-of-44 shooting (55 possessions), while the Raptors as a whole managed just 78 points on 27-of-69 shooting (on roughly 97 possessions).

As for Love’s bounce-back game, Casey offered this: “He’s a force. he’s an offensive force down low. We’ve done a good job on him the entire series. We’ve gotta do a better job meeting his force with our force.”

“His confidence never wavered,” Lue said. He and Love spoke throughout the day and Love gave him an “I told you so” after his big night. And what the strong play of Love and Irving does in opening things up for James is obvious, and it’s downright deadly.

“We’ve gotta take one of them out of the game,” Lowry said.

Assorted

*Somehow, this is in play and not all that far-fetched:


Do you have any idea how difficult that is to do? To continually be outscored but win anyway, to get blown out in losses but manage tight wins? I have to go back and double check this, but there seems a reasonable chance that the Raptors would have the worst point differential of any team that’s ever won 10 games in a postseason. That is at the same time frustrating and incredible, speaking to their toughness and resiliency and lending a shred of hope for the series (or pessimism, depending on your outlook).

*Casey seemed generally pleased with the minutes Jonas Valanciunas was able to provide in his return. If nothing else, this game allowed him to knock the rust off some, and as the Cavs continue to trap the Toronto ball-handlers aggressively, the Raptors may need Valanciunas more to alleviate that pressure. The big man finished with nine points on perfect shooting in 18 minutes but was somehow kept off the glass, a team-wide issue.



*An interesting note: The Cavs have shot far fewer threes in their wins than losses, which speaks to either their own aggressive approach, Toronto’s defense, or a mix of both. It seemed Toronto had found the right middle ground, and they’ll need to find it in a hurry to avoid getting killed in the paint once again.

*James referred to the ACC as “that beast of an arena” when speaking with Doris Burke after the game. Game 6 could be the final home game of the season, and I’m really excited to see how the crowd one-ups itself after a strong season and an absolutely incredible playoff run that’s let the world know that any lip service paid to that arena and fanbase is rooted in reality. It should be a point of pride for the fans, as it is for the players.

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