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The Cleveland Cavaliers are officially through to the 2016 NBA Finals after a comprehensive 26-point win over the Toronto Raptors saw them claim the Eastern Conference Finals series 4-2.
REPORT: CAVS SMASH RAPTORS, MAKE FINALS
Final score
Toronto Raptors 87
Cleveland Cavaliers 113
The Toronto Raptors will need to forget everything about Thursday’s 116-78 drubbing at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers if they want to force a decisive Game 7. Join The Roar from 10:30am (AEST) for live scores and updates.
Toronto have looked fantastic on Canadian soil these playoffs. In the US? Not so much.
The Raptors really have been the most unpredictable team of the 2015/16 post season. Some nights they look like legitimate title contenders, on others they have been unable to compete.
Conversely, until this series the Cavaliers have looked unstoppable and, even while dropping two games, are the consensus pick to make their second straight NBA Finals appearance.
In their first two series the Raptors forced a Game 7, doing it again will be a much tougher task though, even north of the border.
Toronto completely fell apart in Game 5. They recorded 19 turnovers, were out-rebounded 48-27 and allowed Cleveland to score 30 points in transition off all those extra possessions.
The Raptors will need to sure up all of these areas if they are going to have any chance of defeating Cleveland in Game 6.
The Raptors’ All-Star backcourt are going to be critical to this. Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan have been inconsistent to say the least in the playoffs, but both will need to be on song for this one.
Outside shooting has been an issue for both at different times, without the capacity to space the floor Toronto’s offence becomes increasingly one-dimensional.
Toronto will hope to match some improved shooting with the return of seven-foot Lithuanian, Jonas Valanciunas.
The big man only managed 18 minutes in Game 5 after an ankle injury, but given more minutes and hopefully more of the ball, Toronto have a legitimate scoring threat inside. This is crucial to exploiting one of Cleveland’s biggest weaknesses – interior defence.
Kevin Love’s defensive credentials are well known around the league, and they aren’t pretty. Timofey Mozgov simply does not have the footspeed to match Valanciunas, and Tristan Thompson can’t play all 48 minutes.
What Cleveland do have, that nobody else does, is this guy called LeBron James – he’s pretty good.
James has received some criticism lately for not dominating games offensively like Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant once might have. This is absolutely a good thing for Cleveland that he doesn’t.
He recently passed Jason Kidd on the all-time playoff assist list and Cleveland are a much more dangerous team when LeBron gets his teammates involved.
With Kyrie Irving using his speed and ball-handling to find open looks at the basket, Love using his length to hit shots over smaller defenders and shooters like JR Smith and Matthew Dellavedova fulfilling their job description, James becomes the ultimate safety net. And he’s a pretty good one to have.
Prediction
Toronto have come back when everyone thought they were down and out – they’ve been undoubtedly impressive. But they haven’t yet faced a team with Cleveland’s star power. With the chance of extra rest before the Finals on the line (as the West could easily go seven games), expect Cleveland to put this one away in six.
Cavaliers by 8
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