No signs of rust on relentless Cavs
Rested defending champions relaunch offensive assault with steals and slam dunks
CLEVELAND— The Cleveland Cavaliers already led by five when LeBron James made a mid-court steal, tapped the ball to point guard Kyrie Irving, then trailed his teammate toward the Raptors’ basket early in the first quarter.
Irving had a clear path to the rim but heard James urge him to “put it to the sky.”
So Irving banked the ball high off the backboard so James could elevate for a left-handed catch-and-cram that ignited the hometown crowd and forced a Toronto timeout.
Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue had primed local fans and media since the weekend to expect a little less from the opening moments of Monday night’s showdown with the Raptors. The Cavaliers, he pointed out, hadn’t played since eliminating the Pacers from the NBA playoffs April 23, and those eight days off might have dulled his team’s edge.
He cautioned that the game’s first six minutes were crucial to a team re-adjusting to playoff intensity. Then the Cavs took the court and dispelled that idea as emphatically as James threw down that off-the-backboard lob from Irving.
Through the course of their 116-105 win over Toronto, the Cavs would make 39 baskets and record assists on 26 of them. The first three quarters, Cleveland committed just four turnovers.
Clearly this team is still in rhythm, and talk of post-layoff rust was simply talk.
“You prepare and come out and want to play well, but you never know after an eight-day layoff,” said James, who finished with 35 points and 10 rebounds in 41 minutes. “We pushed the tempo. We shared the ball . . . a 30-point (first) quarter after an eight-day layoff is really a really good quarter.”
The theme in Cleveland heading into Monday’s game had been de- fence, with the club trumpeting its rallying cry — “Defend the Land” — wherever it could.
It appeared stencilled on sidewalks near the Quicken Loans Arena, and printed on the souvenir T-shirts draped over every seat in the building. Before, and sometimes during, Monday’s game, the Cavs’ in-arena hype man urged the 20,562 spectators present to exhort the Cavs to commit to defence.
The pledge to Defend the Land was a necessary reminder. Cleveland gave up 107.2 points per regular sea- son game, second-worst among playoff teams. But they jump-started their offence Monday with steals, like the one leading to James’ thunderous dunk.
The Raptors narrowed the gap late, and outscored the Cavs 31-20 in the fourth quarter. But despite the late rally, Lue said standout defensive play from J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert set his team up for a crucial Game 1 win.
He credits that pair with limiting DeMar DeRozan to 19 points.
“We blitzed and did a great job of taking DeRozan out of the game,” Lue said. “I’m just trying to keep him off-balance because I know he’s a great scorer. Same thing with (Kyle) Lowry.”
Toronto’s loss dropped the franchise to 1-12 all-time in playoff series openers, while the James-era Cavs remained undefeated when starting a conference semifinal on five or more days’ rest.
James led all players in minutes played (41) and points (35), while Irving finished with 24 points and 10 assists.