5 KEYS TO RAPS VS. CAVS
Cleveland has LeBron, Toronto has depth
More storylines in the ClevelandToronto NBA playoff series starting Tuesday at the ACC:
STILL THE KING: LeBron James has averaged 30.9 points against Toronto in their last 12 meetings and proved once again in Cleveland’s 4-3 series win over Indiana that he can almost singlehandedly win games, scoring 45 points in Game 7. The 33-year-old James logged 41.1 minutes a game in the opening round, sitting briefly in Sunday’s deciding game because of muscle cramps.
IS FREDDY READY? Toronto’s Bench Mob led the league in the regular season and outscored Washington’s bench 17-2 in the Raptors’ series-clinching win last Friday. Led by guards Fred VanVleet and Delon Wright, the second unit makes Toronto, from top to bottom, a better team than Cleveland. However, a shoulder injury kept VanVleet out of all but three minutes of the first five games against Washington. GETTING A BREATHER: When the Raptors faced Cleveland in the conference finals two seasons ago, the Cavs had eight days off. Last season was similar: the Cavs had a week off, while Toronto and Milwaukee battled through a six-game series. The Raptors are the more rested team this time around, dispatching Washington on Friday, two days before Cleveland’s series finale. And Lowry played just 31 minutes in Game 6, while DeMar DeRozan played 33. HOMECOURT HELP: The two games Toronto took off Cleveland in the 2016 conference final came at the ACC. The Raptors, who lost only seven home games all season and have home-court advantage for the conference playoffs, hope to get off to a running start with wins in Game 1 and 2 in Toronto.
ROLE PLAYERS: In his first start since March 28, Brampton native Tristan Thompson made his presence felt immediately in Sunday’s win, and finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds. The centre could be a handful for Jonas Valanciunas. George Hill also returned after missing three games with back spasms. While their focus is on LeBron, the Raptors have hope no one else on Cleveland comes up big.