LeBron James scored 29 points and Kevin Love added 23 more to lead all five of the Cleveland starters in double-figure scoring on the game.
Cleveland will have at least four days off with the Philadelphia win over Boston pushing that series to at least five games, so until that series reaches its end, it is unknown when game one of the Eastern finals will be played, although the series will begin at either Boston or Philadelphia.
Swashbucklings
1) The Cavaliers shot 59 percent for the game, which tied an all-time team mark for best percentage in the playoffs and most teams aren't going to lose many games when they shoot that well, especially one with LeBron James.
2) What I really loved (no pun intended) from this series was the sudden return to form of Kevin Love to the player that was so dynamic in Minnesota and was of such value that the Cavaliers felt that Andrew Wiggins and his talent and potential were more than a fair return.
This Kevin Love wasn't afraid to drive to the hoop or post up and bang the boards hard and showed such versatility that Love was the type of offensive force that eases LeBron James' use a bit (and anything helps there) and opens up the offense far more than the forward that sometimes just grazes around and fires up an occasional three.
3) Have to love the balanced scoring with the starters all scoring at least 12 points.
You aren't going to receive those type of numbers every night of course, but it's nice to see what can happen when the shots are dropping and even if you get remotely close to that production, this team can be tough to defeat- Western Conference champion or not.
4) One bad note- Tyronn Lue inserted Cedi Osman in the game in the first half and not Rodney Hood in his usual rotation spot.
Hood is reported to have refused to play in the fourth quarter garbage time as a result of that decision as Sam Amico reports.
I'm sure LeBron James will personally make his displeasure known to Hood, but what will this mean for the future of Hood?
Hood came to Cleveland with a questionable attitude resume' and we all assumed that being on a winner with the best player in the world in the locker room would straighten that out as it has in the past in Cleveland, resulting in a productive player.
It appears that Hood is still a work in progress and being a restricted free agent at the end of the playoffs, could this give the front office some pause in matching any potential offers from suitors for Hood?
And could this give those suitors pause? I'd wonder if a guy has an attitude playing with LeBron James, what is he going to do with my club?
It'll be interesting to see if the team suspends Hood or just slaps him with a fine, but bank on some type of punishment involved.
5) Demar DeRozan was thrown out of the game in the second half for a flagrant 2 foul on Jordan Clarkson and finished with a quiet 13 points on the game.
Combine that with Kyle Lowry's mere five points in 30 minutes and you have the recipe for a blowout.
Toronto made moves to compete with the Cavaliers last off-season and those allowed them to win 58 games and become the top seed, but the Raptors didn't improve themselves for the postseason and when your top stars play passively and almost intimidated, it becomes very difficult to win against the really good teams in the playoffs.
Toronto may have come to the realization that one or both of their two core stars might need to go in order to step forward over the long haul.
6) So the results of this were a mild surprise to even me.
Many were predicting Toronto to win after the LeBron centered series against the Pacers with the struggles of that series for everyone not named James.
I picked Cleveland in six, although I had a feeling that it would be five, but didn't expect four at all.
Still, I'm still reluctant to assume that the run of strong play will continue for sure.
Boston is playing without Kyrie Irving, so that would not hurt a series win, while the Sixers (Down 3-1 to Boston) are very talented and could cause major problems for the Cavaliers, but with such a young team, Philadelphia is taking a maiden voyage with each playoff step and that could be a huge advantage for Cleveland, should Philadelphia run the table and advance.
7) So we wait.
Fearless predictions- I'll take the Cavaliers over Boston in six or Philadelphia in five.
Neither of these series are walkovers, but short of a relapse to the play in the series against the Pacers,
I like the Cavaliers to return to the NBA Finals.
No comments:
Post a Comment