Game day is here in Cleveland as the Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors are tied 2-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals. The last time the Cavs were tied 2-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals, LeBron James reeled off 48 points against the Detroit Pistons, including 29 of the Cavs' last 30 points.
2016 EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS NOTES
Series:
- The home team has controlled the tempo in each of the first four games, with the home team dominating the road team in every second quarter so far.
- Kevin Love had 25 offensive rebounds in the first two rounds (eight games). He has only one offensive rebound so far in the first four games of the series.
- Cleveland has either tied or had more assists than Toronto in each game thus far (22-19, 24-17, 15-15, 23-17).
Games 1-2:
- In games 1 and 2, the Raptors guarded the three-point line and paid the price as the Cavs scored 126 points in the paint.
- The Cavs outrebounded the Raptors 45-23 in Game 1 and 46-38 in Game 2.
- The Cavs shot 55.4% and 50.0% from the floor in the two victories.
- The Raptors shot 42.1% and 40.2%.
- The Cavs shot 70 free throws in the first two games.
- Toronto was called for 31 personal fouls while Cleveland was called for 16 fouls.
Game 3:
- Game 3 was a different story. Toronto defended the paint and dared Cleveland to shoot threes.
- They held the Cavs to 20 points in the paint and 35.4% shooting from the floor. This included 14 for 41 on three-point shooting (34.1%).
- The Raptors shot 45.8% overall and 38.7% from downtown.
- Bismack Biyombo dominated the boards with 26 rebounds (18 defensive, 8 offensive) as the Raptors outrebounded the Cavs 54-40.
- Biyombo played 39 minutes, Cory Joseph played over 31 minutes, and DeMarre Carroll played 27.5 minutes--each much more than their contributions in the first two games.
- Matthew Dellavedova played only 12.5 minutes and Richard Jefferson played only 9 minutes.
- Patrick Patterson led the way with a +16 +/- value as all Raptors were at zero or above.
- The worst +/- values for Cleveland were: Irving -14, Channing Frye -13, James -11, J.R. Smith -10, Iman Shumpert -8, Love -6. Tristan Thompson was the only Cavalier with a neutral +/- value of zero.
- Toronto scored 17 fastbreak points after averaging only 10.7 fastbreak points per game during the regular season (tied for 25th in the NBA).
- Cleveland shot only 16 free throws.
Game 4:
- In Game 4, Cleveland again relied too much on outside shooting, but they finally started attacking the paint again with pick and roll plays late in the third quarter.
- While the Raptors still won the game, the Cavs took a couple short leads. They finished with 47.0% shooting and 36 points in the paint.
- The Raptors had their best shooting game of the series in making 53.8% of their shots. They made 45.1% of their shots during the regular season.
- Despite 14 rebounds by Biyombo, the Cavs had the 38-35 edge on the boards.
- James played a bit under 46 minutes while Lowry played just over 44 minutes.
- Overall, Toronto's core five players of Lowry, DeRozan, Biyombo, Carroll, and Patterson played 196 out of 240 minutes. They all had positive +/- values while the other four Raptors who played (Joseph, Luis Scola, Terrence Ross, James Johnson) had negative +/- values.
- Thompson was -14 and Irving was -9. Frye posted a +5 while Jefferson and Shumpert posted neutral +/- values of zero.
- Cleveland shot only 9 free throws.
- Jonas Valanciunas is expected to play extended minutes, albeit off the bench. Look for Scola to sit unless Timofey Mozgov plays for the Cavs.
- While Love has taken the brunt of the criticism from analysts and fans, Thompson and Irving have been thoroughly outplayed by Biyombo and Lowry over the past couple games.
- In Cleveland's previous ten wins, the offense ran on the scoring of Irving, Love, and James. Coach Tyronn Lue needs to play Love in more low post and high post situations to help out with his scoring and offensive rebounding.
- DeRozan leads all scorers with 26.0 points per game in the first four games. Lue may need to lean more heavily on the defense of Dellavedova, Jefferson, and Shumpert to slow down DeRozan and Lowry. Jordan McRae is one more option to add as a defender with good lateral movement, athleticism, and firepower on offense.
- As Thompson has struggled with Biyombo, Frye has also struggled with boxing out the energetic backup center. Mozgov's name has already come up with Valanciunas returning tonight. Other options would be to have James guard Biyombo (meaning Delly/Shump/RJ or even McRae must play more minutes) or seeing if the limited athleticism but polished fundamentals of Sasha Kaun can counter Biyombo's athleticism and limited offensive abilities.
- Dwane Casey and Lue are two underrated NBA head coaches. Casey is arguably the league's best defensive mind. His defensive adjustments in Games 3 and 4 on James and Irving are comparable to Billy Donovan's defensive adjustments with the Oklahoma City Thunder against Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors. They are double-teaming James on baseline drives while double-teaming Irving on all drives. In turn, the Cavs have focused too much on keeping lots of floor spacing, resulting in deflected passes and stalled offensive plays. They need to run to the ball more. For example, Jefferson turned in his best game of the series by cutting by the double teams and getting quick passes for easy baskets. Such cutting should create easy baskets for Love and Thompson.
- Lue has been the understudy of numerous successful coaches and was one of the best bench role player stories in recent NBA history with his Game 1 defense against Allen Iverson in the 2001 Finals. His style of aggressive yet patient defense is needed to slow down DeRozan and Lowry in the remaining games of the series.