Cavs roll as Raptors’ physicality fails to confound LeBron & Co.
CLEVELAND — After building their team in the offseason to beat the Cavaliers, after transforming their style of play with more pace and 3-point shooting, after claiming the best record in the Eastern Conference, the Toronto Raptors resorted to the Indiana Pacers’ model.
The Raptors realized that physicality is the best way to push the Cavaliers to the limit. So in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Saturday night at Quicken Loans Arena, the Raptors slapped, grabbed and held whenever they could.
Sure, foul trouble was a risk, but with the top-seeded Raptors already down 2-0, there really was none. When the primary target is LeBron James it is less of a gamble, since foes have been beating on the massive James for years and getting away with much of it.
With James coming off a 43-point game in which he hit seven dazzling fadeaways, the strategy made even more sense. After all, if the Pacers could extend the Cavs to seven games in the first round after going 3-1 against them in the regular season, why shouldn’t the Raptors use the same logic?
It proved to be the way to compete with the Cavs, even though the Raptors relied on second-year man Pascal Siakam and rookie OG Anunoby. They shoved and locked up James whenever they could. After one of those exchanges with Siakam, James was slow to get back to the huddle for a timeout with 6:47 left in the second quarter and was sweating profusely.
The Raptors used all their muscle, even benching finesse player DeMar DeRozan when they were down 14 to start the fourth quarter, and it nearly worked to perfection as Toronto tied the game with eight seconds remaining. But James banked in a right-handed shot from the left side at the buzzer for a 105-103 victory, extending the Cavs’ postseason winning streak to nine consecutive games over the Raptors.
The Cavs can close out the series tonight at the Q.
Raptors coach Dwane Casey said before the game that his team needed to play with physicality and toughness. But he didn’t believe they’d lacked it in the first two games, just in stretches. The Raptors blew a 14-point lead and lost by a point in overtime in Game 1, then were routed by 18 on their home court in Game 2.
“Well, I thought we had it in the first game and then also probably half of the second game,” Casey said. “It was a one-point game and we shot ourselves in the foot in Game 1. How many layups and gimmes did we miss? And I don’t know if we had an emotional hangover in Game 2 and it hit us, but again it’s no excuse for us not to have the physicality we need.
“It’s up to us to bring it. It’s not being dirty, but just being physical, taking the ball to the basket and finishing through contact. All the things, the hard things we gotta do them, and we didn’t do them for over half the game in Game 2.”
But James has been indefatigable all season, playing all 82 games at age 33 and in his 15th season. James pushed himself to exhaustion in Game 7 against the Pacers and made only 12 of 30 shots in Game 1 in Toronto, but still put up a triple-double as the Cavs stole a victory. In Game 3, he totaled 38 points with six rebounds and seven assists.
That’s not to say James won’t feel the effects. On consecutive possessions in the third quarter, he took some of the Raptors’ best shots. James was hit in the head by DeRozan on a layup and stayed down for a few seconds, but still converted the and-one. Then as James dribbled downcourt, Anunoby knocked him down.
With 7:15 to go, Kyle Lowry and James locked arms and Lowry flung James down, with James drawing a foul that stood up to review.
“It’s about making him work a little bit more,” Lowry said of James at shootaround. “Picking him up more. Don’t let him kind of sit and get to his spots. He’s going to get to his spots, but make it difficult. Try to deny him. Make him push you off. Just kind of get into him a little more and not let him feel as comfortable as he has been feeling. When he’s dribbling the ball sometimes with our bigs on him he’s kind of dancing. We just got to not let him be as free.”