USA TODAY International Edition
THREE- POINT TURN
Cavaliers’ long- range shooting drop gives Raptors chance
Now we know why LeBron James rejected the idea that the Cleveland Cavaliers are a three- point shooting team.
Now we know why James didn’t want the Cavs to fall in love with the three- ball.
When Cleveland is making three- pointers — as it did in a record- breaking pace in the first two rounds of the playoffs against the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks — it opens the floor and creates better scoring opportunities inside and outside.
But in Canada, the threes did not fall, and with the Toronto Raptors limiting baskets at the rim, Cleveland’s offense has sputtered in the last two games. After shooting 46.2% on threes in the first two rounds, including 50.7% against Atlanta, the Cavs have hit 33.3% of their threes against Toronto.
It’s a stunner — to everyone except Toronto — that the NBA Eastern Conference finals series is tied 2- 2 after the Raptors’ 105- 99 victory Monday. Game 5 is Wednesday in Cleveland ( 8: 30 p. m. ET, ESPN).
“We have gotten a little bit more familiar with what
they’re trying to do, and it’s giving us a little bit more confidence as far as to stop it,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said.
And now we have a competitive series, which no one expected at the outset and certainly not after the first two games in Cleveland. In those two games, the Cavs scored 106 points in the paint, but they scored 56 in the paint — Cleveland’s Game 1 total — in the two games in Toronto.
The Raptors say they made a tactical mistake early. Obsessed with stopping the three, they deserted the paint. That changed in Games 3 and 4, and the Raptors were able to do both — limit Cleveland’s interior and threepoint scoring.
Casey has often said a team needs to pick its poison against the Cavaliers. He has decided to make Cleveland beat Toronto with threes. But even then, the Raptors are closing out on Cleveland’s shooters. The Raptors contested 31 of the Cavaliers’ 41 three- point attempts in Game 4, according to NBA. com.
Center Bismack Biyombo’s defense has helped keep LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving from scoring at the rim as often as they would like. Biyombo’s presence is noticeable: He contested 15 shots — 10 twos and five threes — and blocked three.
“They’re doing a good job of trying to clog the paint and take away our penetration,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said.
The Cavaliers need to play better. Improved pick- and- roll defense and on- ball containment of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are central to Cleveland’s success. When Lowry and DeRozan are scoring ( a combined 67 points in Game 4), the Cavs can’t push the tempo and find early offense.
“We have to take that one- onone challenge and be better with those two guys,” Lue said.
Even if Lue doesn’t make a change to the starting lineup, he indicated he likes a lineup that includes Channing Frye. His threepoint shooting moved Biyombo away from the rim and opened the paint for easy baskets, especially in the second half.
But don’t make this all about what Cleveland is or isn’t doing.
The Raptors made adjustments defensively, hit shots, kept their composure and did what no other team had done against the Cavs in a close game late in the fourth quarter of the playoffs: execute. Toronto outscored Cleveland 11- 3 in the final 4: 37.
Now we also know why Casey bristled at critics who suggested the Raptors were overmatched, quit after Game 2 and were inca-
“We have gotten a little bit more familiar with what they’re trying to do, and it’s giving us a little bit more confidence as far as to stop it.” Raptors coach Dwane Casey
pable of winning a game or more than one game.
The Raptors have found a rhythm offensively and defensively, and Casey expected that to happen when most didn’t.
Look at the start of the series from the Raptors’ perspective. They plodded through 14 games against the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat and have played every other day since April 29.
In Game 1, the Raptors were not ready for the speed and pace at which the Cavs played, and Cleveland exploited that. In Game 2, Toronto had a problematic four- minute stretch at the end of the first half that resulted in a 16- 2 Cavs run.
Those are the runs — those rapid- fire spurts filled with threepointers and dunks — the Raptors eliminated at home.
“One thing we’ve got to do is cut down on the runs,” Casey said. “The games that we lost there, there were probably threeor four- minute segments of the game that really did us in in both games. If we can sustain our defense against their runs and not let them blow it open in those three- or four- minute segments — and we’ve got to respond offensively. That’s what we did not do when they went on their offensive run in Cleveland.”