National Post (National Edition)
Raptors earn respect from NBA rivals
Playoff run and early season garner notice
The Toronto Raptors have been playing some of the best basketball in franchise history, putting up offensive numbers frequently seen in online video game battles, while playing at a decent, middle-of-the-pack defensive level.
It is the type of run that makes other teams take notice and makes Raptors fans dream of the possibilities. But according to the best player of this generation, Cleveland’s LeBron James, it didn’t take this roll to land the Raptors on the radar of the defending champions.
“They’ve had our attention,” James said on Monday morning, ahead of the Monday’s final meeting between the Eastern Conference finalists until the last game of the regular season in April.
“They’ve had our attention for the last couple (of) years. I think they’ve had the NBA’s attention. You don’t need them playing well and us not playing well or us playing well and them not playing well for them to get our attention. I think it’s there.”
It’s possible that the fourtime league MVP is simply trying to avoid providing any bulletin board ammunition for the Raptors to use as motivation down the line, but the respect seems genuine when you talk to James or other members of the Cavaliers organization. After all, the Raptors beat the Cavs twice in three regular season meetings last year, then took two games from them at the ACC in the post-season.
“It’s a team that’s first of all well-coached. It starts with their two-headed monster, DeRozan and Lowry,” James said. “Their complementary guys have been playing great. Their role players have been playing great. DeMarre (Carroll) and Patrick (Patterson), Terrence Ross coming in and giving them big minutes, obviously Cory Joseph being a solid backup point guard for them as well. Even some of the younger guys they’ve been coming into the game have come in and played some good ball. We’ve got our hands full tonight in a hostile environment.”
Fellow superstar Kyrie Irving had a similar take.
“We understand we are playing against a great team in Toronto,” Irving said.
“Their two-guard set is one that just separates them in the league. DeMar, Kyle, they do an unbelievable job of leading this team offensively. And defensively, they compete every possession. They take advantage of different lineups you have because one of (Lowry or DeRozan) is on the floor almost every minute of the game.”
The Cavaliers showed no evidence of a championship hangover early on this season, starting off by rolling through opponents on a nightly basis, but had dropped three straight heading into Toronto. The Cavs are the hunted, and know that the Raptors are one of the most dangerous teams in pursuit of them.
“Those three games are behind us but echoing what LeBron said, the honeymoon is over,” Irving said. “We still are the champs, but we have to understand that we are going to get the other teams’ best punch every night.”
And just in case they forget, the balanced Raptors are happy to remind them.