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Cavs vs. Raptors - 2nd Round Uncompetitive Sweep

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Who wins?

  • Cavs in 4

    Votes: 36 20.7%
  • Cavs in 5

    Votes: 61 35.1%
  • Cavs in 6

    Votes: 55 31.6%
  • Cavs in 7

    Votes: 14 8.0%
  • Raptors in 7

    Votes: 4 2.3%
  • Raptors in 6

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Raptors in 5

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • Raptors in 4

    Votes: 3 1.7%

  • Total voters
    174
  • Poll closed .
I don't think that Cavs-Raptors is a rivalry because it's so one-sided. If we call the Raptors a rival, we'll have to call the Hawks a rival as well even though we absolutely steal their lunch any time we play them in the playoffs.

Sadly, Browns - Steelers is no longer a rivalry for the same reason.

I'd say our rivals are - Boston, GSW and Washington, in that order. Can't count Chicago w/ Jordan for the same reason you give. We've battled Boston in the playoffs over every single decade (including Larry Bird's last game), GSW of course is short & current but incredibly important, and Washington more for historical reasons BUT I see them as a rival down the road with Wall vs. Kyrie.

As for Round 2 this year, I don't really care -- we need to dispose of either team in 4. Avoid injury risk, get maximum rest for our team & especially LeBron, more time to prep for next series.
 
That 2014 Heat team was brutally bad in The Finals, outside of LeBron. Like atrociously bad. In all aspects of the game. It was arguably the most lopsided Finals in history despite Miami (I mean LeBron) somehow winning one game.

It was every bit as bad or worse than LeBron's first visit to the Finals, and that's pretty bad. LeBron's had very little alongside him that year.
 
What to make of this graphic?

5f332383-1eb2-4738-a1b1-7f146e7bd32e.png


First reaction: that is bad defense.

Second reaction: ....we played better defense than the 2014 NBA finals Miami Heat?

What was their d rating before the finals? The spurs blew them to pieces.
 
What was their d rating before the finals? The spurs blew them to pieces.

It was 108.6 before the Finals.

Edit: To be precice: 108.6 is the Figure i calculated from basketball-reference and from NBA.com its 107.6 for pre Finals. They are different.

Oh and btw from NBA.com.. against the Spurs it was 118.6.. ouch
 
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That 2014 Heat team was brutally bad in The Finals, outside of LeBron. Like atrociously bad. In all aspects of the game. It was arguably the most lopsided Finals in history despite Miami (I mean LeBron) somehow winning one game.

This Cavs teams reminds me a lot of that Miami team. LeBron had a fantastic statistical season that year, shooting the ball with ridiculous efficiency. But the team seemed tired of the grind and underachieved in terms of its regular season record. Both that team and this team have looked old at times. LeBron's dominant performance this round reminded me a lot of LeBron's performance against the Brooklyn Nets. In both series it felt like he was carrying the team at times with little consistent support. I fear the Finals will end up being similar when the Cavs shaky defense will face an incredible offensive team with crazy passing and shooting. Hope not though.
 
This Cavs teams reminds me a lot of that Miami team. LeBron had a fantastic statistical season that year, shooting the ball with ridiculous efficiency. But the team seemed tired of the grind and underachieved in terms of its regular season record. Both that team and this team have looked old at times. LeBron's dominant performance this round reminded me a lot of LeBron's performance against the Brooklyn Nets. In both series it felt like he was carrying the team at times with little consistent support. I fear the Finals will end up being similar when the Cavs shaky defense will face an incredible offensive team with crazy passing and shooting. Hope not though.
And it could happen against the same team :dejection:
 
This Cavs teams reminds me a lot of that Miami team. LeBron had a fantastic statistical season that year, shooting the ball with ridiculous efficiency. But the team seemed tired of the grind and underachieved in terms of its regular season record. Both that team and this team have looked old at times. LeBron's dominant performance this round reminded me a lot of LeBron's performance against the Brooklyn Nets. In both series it felt like he was carrying the team at times with little consistent support. I fear the Finals will end up being similar when the Cavs shaky defense will face an incredible offensive team with crazy passing and shooting. Hope not though.

A huge difference should be that our most important guys outside of Bron: Kyrie,Love,TT and JR are not old and broken down like the Heat where.

Kyrie will show up to the Finals as will TT. That alone is a huge difference.
 
This Cavs teams reminds me a lot of that Miami team. LeBron had a fantastic statistical season that year, shooting the ball with ridiculous efficiency. But the team seemed tired of the grind and underachieved in terms of its regular season record. Both that team and this team have looked old at times. LeBron's dominant performance this round reminded me a lot of LeBron's performance against the Brooklyn Nets. In both series it felt like he was carrying the team at times with little consistent support. I fear the Finals will end up being similar when the Cavs shaky defense will face an incredible offensive team with crazy passing and shooting. Hope not though.
There are a lot of similarities to draw from our first round against Indiana.
 
This Cavs teams reminds me a lot of that Miami team. LeBron had a fantastic statistical season that year, shooting the ball with ridiculous efficiency. But the team seemed tired of the grind and underachieved in terms of its regular season record. Both that team and this team have looked old at times. LeBron's dominant performance this round reminded me a lot of LeBron's performance against the Brooklyn Nets. In both series it felt like he was carrying the team at times with little consistent support. I fear the Finals will end up being similar when the Cavs shaky defense will face an incredible offensive team with crazy passing and shooting. Hope not though.
The crazy thing is if the AC didn't break the Heat could have went up 2-0.

The Spurs bench outclassed the Heat bench. However, the difference was LeBron dominated Leonard the 1st two games and then Leonard played as well as him the next 3. LeBron needed to have a 15 to 20 point difference in scoring for that team to have a shot.

Kyrie will bring it in the finals unlike a worn down Wade. However, Kevin Love scares me against Golden State or San Antonio. A bad bench game and the Cavs will be in trouble if Love isn't scoring.
 
Looks like the Raptors (now up 3-2 on the Bucks).

I'm concerned about the road games. I hope the team, especially the young guys, are ready for that crowd again.

We were shook in Game 3 and Game 4 last year, in Toronto. Although we had figured things out by Game 6.

This isn't going to be easy. As @JMoneyYourHoney said in the Open Thread, the playoffs will really start then.

Hopefully we are all rested and healthy, and can end it fast.
 
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The crazy thing is if the AC didn't break the Heat could have went up 2-0.

The Spurs bench outclassed the Heat bench. However, the difference was LeBron dominated Leonard the 1st two games and then Leonard played as well as him the next 3. LeBron needed to have a 15 to 20 point difference in scoring for that team to have a shot.

Kyrie will bring it in the finals unlike a worn down Wade. However, Kevin Love scares me against Golden State or San Antonio. A bad bench game and the Cavs will be in trouble if Love isn't scoring.
Disagree slightly because Love doesn't actually need to score to be a positive..on offense. The way we use him he's usually paired with LeBron for god-level spacing. He's a positive just standing at the arc. It's on the defensive end that we lose some tenacity. GS attacks him when he's on the floor through getting his man involved one way or another and forcing him to rotate. 'Hiding' guys on defence stops being practical against the best coached teams. Imo the Raps arent in that category. Their playbook is so straightforward I don't see it beating us four times
 
Looks like the Raptors (now up 3-2 on the Bucks).

I'm concerned about the road games. I hope the team, especially the young guys, are ready for that crowd again.

We were shook in Game 3 and Game 4 last year, in Toronto. Although we had figured things out by Game 6.

This isn't going to be easy. As @JMoneyYourHoney said in the Open Thread, the playoffs will really start then.

Hopefully we are all rested and healthy, and can end it fast.
Think of it as a test for them. If you're overwhelmed at the ACC then you have no chance at the Oracle.
 
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I vote Bucks. I want to see Giannis (2nd favorite non-Cavs player) vs. LeBron.
This. Marketeers try to bill Giannis as "LeBron 2.0" but there will never be another LeBron, still Giannis is a great talent and better than anyone on the Raptors. Bonus points for any Delly vs Kyrie minutes: it was fun watching those two battle in the Olympics, they grew-up in the NBA practicing against each other and while Kyrie gets the best of it, it was still competitive.
 

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