LeBron-less Cavs look listless
With captain LeBron James taking a mandatory rest, the Cleveland Cavaliers completed their late-season collapse with a 98-83 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday.
The defending NBA champions staggered to the finish line, falling flat — but now it’s playoff time.
James watched in street clothes as Jonas Valanciunas dropped his first career 3-pointer and the Raptors looked cool, calm and collected on a night when the Cavs also rested Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.
The past few weeks have been a challenging stretch for the Cavs, who closed the regular season going 10-14 since March 1.
They head into the postseason looking very vulnerable.
But while the crown appears shaky, the Cavs, who dropped their last four and the No 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, feel like they can defend it.
“I feel very confident that we’ve got a good run in us,” coach Tyronn Lue said. “I think we’re good.”
Norman Powell scored 25 points as the Raptors beat Cleveland for the first time in four tries this season.
Although there was still a chance to get the top seed, the Cavs put more value on resting their stars to ensure they will be fresh for Saturday’s quarterfinal opener against the Indiana Pacers.
Toronto opens at home against Milwaukee on Saturday. The Raps have high expectations, and guard Kyle Lowry is eager to get started.
“It’s a new year and we’ve moved on to Milwaukee,” he said. “Honestly, we can’t worry about anything that happened before or in last season’s playoffs. This is a heck of a time.”
The Cavs ended the season on one positive as forward Tristan Thompson returned after missing four games with a sprained right thumb. Wearing a brace that he’ll sport in the playoffs, Thompson scored 10 points in 18 minutes.
Cleveland also got its first look at newly signed 7-foot-3 center Edy Tavares, who blocked six shots and grabbed 10 rebounds.
The Raptors, too, chose to keep legs fresh as All-Star forward DeMar DeRozan (flu-like symptoms) and Serge Ibaka watched.
This game looked more like a preseason exhibition than a matchup between two of the league’s top teams. Both Toronto coach Dwane Casey and Cleveland’s Lue opted to get players off their feet and played reserves after halftime.