NBA Playoffs! Round 2, Game 3: Toronto Raptors 103 - Cleveland Cavaliers 105 (CLE 3-0)

[JawsGT]

A couple of breaks go our way or a couple of shots go down and we could be up 2-1. At least that's what I'm telling myself lol. But I'm happy the guys came out last night and played hard and stood up for themselves. They didn't lay down and they didn't get punked. I was expecting a blowout and at times it looked like CLE would run away with it but they battled and got it down to a last shot.

[JawsGT]

yeah, they made it very easy for LBJ/Korver to get that switch. They didn't even try to fight through it. Thought they should have tried to keep OG on him in those situations.

[Other Scott]

I'm tired of hearing that "Indiana played harder than us". Cleveland just started shooting.

Here's the stats on open and wide open 3s, so something that the defense can control the quantity of but not really the percentage.

Cleveland in the Indiana series - Open 3s they were attempting 15 a game @ 33.7%, Wide Open they were attempting 10 a game @ 34.1%

Cleveland in the Toronto series - Open 3s they are attempting 10 a game @ 45%, Wide Open they are attempting 14 a game at 44%.

The quantity of open is the same, though Toronto's allowing more wide open - Indiana really didn't do a better job "staying on shooters" than Toronto has. Cleveland just shot like crap for that entire series.

That's why Toronto was favoured. Lebron was getting zero help from his 3 point shooters for an entire series going into this, so the books bet against a sudden switch of that coming. And guess what, Cleveland's supporting players turned up their shooting.

I'll look a bit into who the 3s have been allocated to and see if I can see if that's the reason.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

The time for excuses is long over. This team needs a makeover.

Demar was awful. Truly awful in every aspect of the game. Regardless of what happens this offseason, it’s clear that he can’t be our leader. If we can’t find a deal, we need a paradigm shift - new coach, new accountability, new role.

Kyle started and finished great but once he picked up some fouls, he was pretty garbage for 2+ quarters. When he was attacking early, or when FVV (or Delon) runs the offence he is at his best. Depending on the deals that Masai can find, Lowry at SG would be an option (IF he’s back).

Siakam is officially our best PF, he needs to start. Ibaka isn’t a starter anymore; the regression is real.

OG is straight up gangsta. Might as well call him Niko Bellic.

I’d like to see a starting unit of FVV, Lowry, OG, Siakam, JV as neither Demar or Ibaka deserves to start.

I agreed until the last part. This is pointless and doesn't solve anything.

We need to just get rid of Lowry, DeMar and Ibaka and start over. This team is going nowhere regardless of what lineup you play.

[JimiCliff]

Im not ok with. I thought Miles guarding LeBron was the dumbest thing Casey's ever done.

Sent from my LG G6 using Tapatalk

Lol, I didn't mean 'you' as in you, I meant 'you' as in the coaching staff.

It was incredible. They were making it so easy - there were times where OG would fight through the (lazily set) screen and stick with Lebron, but then he'd remember 'oh yeah, I have to switch', and go to Korver. I just don't see the logic here.

[Scraptor]

I'm tired of hearing that "Indiana played harder than us". Cleveland just started shooting.

Here's the stats on open and wide open 3s, so something that the defense can control the quantity of but not really the percentage.

Cleveland in the Indiana series - Open 3s they were attempting 15 a game @ 33.7%, Wide Open they were attempting 10 a game @ 34.1%

Cleveland in the Toronto series - Open 3s they are attempting 10 a game @ 45%, Wide Open they are attempting 14 a game at 44%.

The quantity of open is the same, though Toronto's allowing more wide open - Indiana really didn't do a better job "staying on shooters" than Toronto has. Cleveland just shot like crap for that entire series.

That's why Toronto was favoured. Lebron was getting zero help from his 3 point shooters for an entire series going into this, so the books bet against a sudden switch of that coming. And guess what, Cleveland's supporting players turned up their shooting.

I'll look a bit into who the 3s have been allocated to and see if I can see if that's the reason.

Indiana had a DRatg of 105.5 per bbref. We have a DRatg of 123.7. If you think that's solely due to the Cavs shooters magically making more shots then I'm not sure what to tell you.

[Other Scott]

It's not solely due to that, but I've heard the rationale for Indiana doing better was because they stuck on the shooters better than Toronto did and let Lebron beat them, and that's simply not true. The teams did about the same sticking on shooters, Indiana ever so slightly better just because of the ratio of open to wide open.

Anyways that percentage on 3s leads to about 7.5 points per game. If Cleveland shoots like they did in the Indiana series, Toronto is up 2-1. If Cleveland shoots like they did against Indiana in this series, they win it in 5 games with Game 1 being the only loss.

[S.R.]

Indiana had a DRatg of 105.5 per bbref. We have a DRatg of 123.7. If you think that's solely due to the Cavs shooters magically making more shots then I'm not sure what to tell you.

Toronto's defence has fallen right off for the last couple of months, not just this series. It's been bad since the 11 game win streak ended.

[Jangles]

So who's making the game 4 thread?

[planetmars]

There is so much to talk about in this game. But there is only one thing that's really worth mentioning. And that's DeMar and how pathetic his performance was.

It's now another game in the playoffs (a critical one no less) where the coach had to bench his ass. And he's our leader? He's the poster boy for this team? This is why this team doesn't get to far. You can blame Kyle some.. and he could have been better.. but Kyle fought hard and deserved to play in that 4th. Hit some tough 3's. Made some tough layups. Did a fairly good job on defense. Made some errors for sure, but nothing like DeMar.

Moving forward there isn't really much Masai can do. He locked himself into this core for another 2 years (maybe 1 if he can deal expiring contracts in their final year). So I expect a new coach.

We did the culture thing, and it worked! We got 59 wins. First in the East. Had 2 all-stars again. A rested Lowry. No major injuries. Top 5 in offense and defense. Really not much more you can ask for. Except getting swept in the playoffs.

The playoffs is a different beast and we don't have it. We played dumb. We played scared. Yeah we could have won game 1 if a layup went in. We could have won game 3 if we played Lebron better in that last possession or didn't fucking switch every time letting some guy get a free dunk or a 3. And that's inexcusable.

How do you sell this team going forward? You can't really. However Masai really fucked himself over with this core. We're a tax team next year. No way to get around that unless we can move someone like JV (who's a playoff performer) for cap relief. It's not like Serge, Norm, DeMar or Lowry will be easy to move. We might lose Fred depending on how deep in the tax we want to go. and that feels more probable now that we've been bounced like this again. Masai created a 3 year window. That window isn't shattering anytime soon. He used some of that bullet proof shit to create that window. So the only move he has in his arsenal and to make some type of potential impact is to can his coach.

Mind you Casey deserves a lot of the blame for these playoffs. But he's really the same guy we've had for the last 5 years. He helped with the culture change and proved he can succeed in the regular season. But we need to be better than that. Especially when you're spending $80M on just 3 guys.

This summer isn't going to really be that interesting. No draft picks. No money for free agency. Only talk will be about the coach and whether he will be fired or not, and who his replacement will be. And then little things like what we're going to do about Fred. Will be really painful and slow. If Masai actually takes a bulldozer to that window this summer I will be shocked and surprised. Hope he's thinking of renting one.

Anyway I'm rooting for Cleveland to stomp Boston in the ECF. I mean if Boston loses again in a sweep or 5 games than I'll feel better. But I suspect Boston will put up a fight. The Cavs are vulnerable. Raptors beat themselves this series. Lebron is superhuman but his team sucks.. nothing's changed there.

[golden]

Brad Stevens would be up 3-0 right now with this team.

Maybe not 3-0, but at least up 2-1. Those 2 close games we lost are like textbook Stevens' wins.

[A.I]

Maybe not 3-0, but at least up 2-1. Those 2 close games we lost are like textbook Stevens' wins.

I remember people arguing whether Casey or Stevens is better as a coach on the forums. Good times...

[The Great One]

What defensive adjustment did Casey made from last year to this year? put CJ Miles on LeBron? lol. Did not know that he's the Raptors secret weapon on defence.

You just have to laugh.

You could make an argument that Casey singlehandedly lost games 1 and 3 because of his terrible coaching.

[planetmars]

I remember people arguing whether Casey or Stevens is better as a coach on the forums. Good times...

The argument always came down to wins vs losses. And that the Celtics got blown out by the Cavs as well. I'm really curious to see how this rag tag group of Boston players does against Lebron this time around.

[Deems]

We need to bring Bob Knight out of his death bed and give him a years supply of chairs and cocaine. We'll see how long DeMar doesn't play defence lol