NBA Playoffs! Round 2, Game 1: Toronto Raptors 112 - Cleveland Cavaliers 113 (CLE 1-0)

[golden]

The starters rarely closing together means they are not accustomed to making adjustments on the fly.

Using LeBron on Lowry and switching with Thompson was something we failed to adjust to. Many times in the regular season we'd see FVV or Wright on the court as an extra ballhandler. In the past it helped big time if opponents tried focusing on Lowry and Demar. We couldn't do that because Cleveland played big and we needed OG and two bigs out there. And we never really figured it out. We missed some looks we should make, but our O just generally sputtered and we struggled to consistently get good looks.

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Yep. Raps never did figure out a counter to Lebron on Lowry. That was a key adjustment made by Lue that probably won the game for them. It really took Lowry out of the game and made him lose his composure.

If FVV was ready to go, we probably should have brought him back earlier as the primary ball-handler to get the ball out of Lowry's hands..... as bad as that sounds. Was really surprised to see Freddy back in there for the last shot & OT.

[white men can't jump]

I don't think the starters rarely closing is why we lost that game, but it couldn't have helped that they're not accustomed to it.

Casey's adjustments are often rotation-based. He changes personnel in order to change tactics, and that's generally fine. Yesterday he was trapped late because he had to play big. And not to blame him because guys missed on plays they could make, but we were unable to make a good adjustment to counter the Cavs down the stretch.

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[Jclaw]

My takeaways from watching the game live without the benefits of replays or close ups..

OG can guard Lebron
The Cavs can't guard Jonas
The Cavs can barely guard Demar at the rim
WTF happened in the 2nd quarter when they decided to help and leave shooters open?

I have more faith that we can fix that last one rather than Cleveland being able to fix the first three. Did we blow an opportunity playing tired Lebron? Sure. But he just played another 45 minutes (likely showing his fatigue shooting 1/6 on free throws) and has to do it again tomorrow. Anything can happen in a game (as we just saw) but we're good. We can win.

[DanH]

Our play down the stretch was fine. We basically broke even with the Cavs' best shot for a 9 minute stretch from when the starters came in to the end of OT (going from a 1 point lead to a 1 point loss), even with all those misses.

I ride the coaches for the little 2 minute stretches of idiocy because that's where the game was lost.

In basketball, with a 2-3 point lead, your destiny is never in your hands. The Raptors got great looks that didn't fall. It happens. Sometimes you play amazing defence and the other guy hits a fadeaway he usually misses. It happens. The key is to put yourself in a position to not be susceptible to small margins plays changing the outcome of the game. Give the starters a 5 point lead to hold onto and they probably do so, based on how they played over those 9 minutes to close. Throw that 5 point lead in the trash with terrible lineup decisions and you open yourself up to a few missed shots costing you the game.

[golden]

My takeaways from watching the game live without the benefits of replays or close ups..

OG can guard Lebron
The Cavs can't guard Jonas
The Cavs can barely guard Demar at the rim
WTF happened in the 2nd quarter when they decided to help and leave shooters open?

I have more faith that we can fix that last one rather than Cleveland being able to fix the first three. Did we blow an opportunity playing tired Lebron? Sure. But he just played another 45 minutes (likely showing his fatigue shooting 1/6 on free throws) and has to do it again tomorrow. Anything can happen in a game (as we just saw) but we're good. We can win.

Honestly, I don't think the question anymore is whether or not we CAN win this. Vegas has picked us as the favourites. Even long-time haters are calling us the clear cut better team. The only question is if we're going to continue to shoot ourselves in the foot in executing the game-plan and adjusting to tactics.

[slaw]

Yes because that's exactly what I said.

It definitely matters to have repetition in sports. So yes, playing together in different situations matters.

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They've played together virtually the entire first and third quarters all season. JV/DD/Lowry have played together for years. I find it difficult to believe JV missed a gazillion layups because they didn't close out enough games together in the regular season. The Game 5, fourth quarter WSH group barely played together at all for the entire season and they blew WSH off the floor and JV was great.

They got the yips.

[GOLDBLUM]

Ughhhh! Arrrgh!

I still can't get over the last play of the 4th quarter..4 good opportunities, 4 misses, from 4 different players. The last 3 (derozan, miles, JV) all desperation rushed attempts with plenty of time left to be composed. They all had a chance to be a fucking hero with their name in the headlines. It was too much.

Raptors beat themselves. LeBron and love weren't even that good. Don't expect that to continue. Brutal gut punch that feels no better today.

Watched the replay of the last sequence and one super ironic thing to me is that, while it can usually be kinda irritating, if we only had Demar's girlfriend barking out the clock, the guys could've had the awareness and the composure to take the time necessary to finish at the rim. You can see they all have no idea how much time is left and are just heaving it up in desperation.

[white men can't jump]

Yep. Raps never did figure out a counter to Lebron on Lowry. That was a key adjustment made by Lue that probably won the game for them. It really took Lowry out of the game and made him lose his composure.

If FVV was ready to go, we probably should have brought him back earlier as the primary ball-handler to get the ball out of Lowry's hands..... as bad as that sounds. Was really surprised to see Freddy back in there for the last shot & OT.

The problem is, if Cleveland has LeBron, Love and Thompson out there, how can Casey even get FVV or even Wright into the game? Who will they guard?

Casey tried staying a bit smaller when the Cavs used that frontcourt and you had Love posting up Demar. Personnally I would have tried switching that even with a smaller lineup and use JV or another big on Love, and move Demar over to guard Thompson, who's useless outside the paint. Might have still hurt us, but we needed to try something different just to change it up.

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[Scraptor]

You know how they say "this was a team win"? This was a team loss. Just look at these lowlights to close out the last 10 minutes of the fourth quarter:

There's no one person to blame imo. Everyone has to do a better job next game.

[Sonny]

What did i say? Cavs in 5.

If the Raptors lose or choke again tomorrow, they might get swept.

[rocwell]

What did i say? Cavs in 5.

If the Raptors lose or choke again tomorrow, they might get swept.

[white men can't jump]

They've played together virtually the entire first and third quarters all season. JV/DD/Lowry have played together for years. I find it difficult to believe JV missed a gazillion layups because they didn't close out enough games together in the regular season. The Game 5, fourth quarter WSH group barely played together at all for the entire season and they blew WSH off the floor and JV was great.

They got the yips.

Yes, because missing 3 tip ins/putbacks is missing a "gazillion" layups. Tips are not as easy as people think. And his cleanest layup he missed was the 2nd putback attempt on his own shot where Korver hammered him and there was no call.

He got the ball less, and in less good spots, in the 4th/OT than earlier in the game. The one time he got the ball with deep post position, he easily drove in for a reverse layup. Those were the looks he got in the 3rd where they had to keep fouling him. The others were what? A midrange jumper, a floater from 10-12 ft out, and that running shot he took over Thompson and missed his tips on. And that last one was another stagnant play where nothing was really going on so he drove. Not exactly a massive choke job.

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[Dr Hannibal Lecter]

Well,Well,Well...what a surprise..lol..this is crazy, only raptors could choke this hard, it's done, there done, I've seen this enough with the same ppl 2 know it ain't happening.. they don't have it..are u serious jr Smith, Kyle korver.. these guys are beating u..really..really..give me a break..this Cleveland team is garbage, LeBron is LeBron,we know what he is, the rest is garbage, his got nobody and they won..Love is injured..garbage player. Demar and Lowry doing what they do best, chocking..man these guys are soft..if u wanna win championship and become the elite ..take the final f'n shot..I love vanvleet, but common..dont put him in that position, kid is ice cold from the bench taking big shots, bad shoulder an all..Last thing we all seen this movie and we know how it ends.. it's frustrating, very disappointing, I'm mad, Series is done, let's b honest here they ain't winning s$#t, not with this group..

[white men can't jump]

I do think they played too tight, but this wasn't any one guy or even the team choking that badly.

Lots of minor things from players and coaching that hurt us too much at the wrong times.

We can tall about "yips" but the misses wouldn't have hurt if we didn't let JR and Korver go off (which has already been mentioned as probably yhe real reason we lost) because they were left open far too often. And Demar and Lowry were big culprits there, and it's been a big problem all year. Lowry cheats off his man too much. Demar cheats or just gets caught being lazy. That has literally nothing to do with the "yips".

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[JimiCliff]

Yes, because missing 3 tip ins/putbacks is missing a "gazillion" layups. Tips are not as easy as people think. And his cleanest layup he missed was the 2nd putback attempt on his own shot where Korver hammered him and there was no call.

He got the ball less, and in less good spots, in the 4th/OT than earlier in the game. The one time he got the ball with deep post position, he easily drove in for a reverse layup. Those were the looks he got in the 3rd where they had to keep fouling him. The others were what? A midrange jumper, a floater from 10-12 ft out, and that running shot he took over Thompson and missed his tips on. And that last one was another stagnant play where nothing was really going on so he drove. Not exactly a massive choke job.

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After the chronic lack of faith Casey's shown in JV in crunch time throughout his entire career, I'm half amazed Jonas doesn't just lay at centre court curled up in a ball, sobbing, when he's out there in the fourth. Him being out of sync enough to miss bunnies and tip-ins should be surprising to no one.