After meeting in the conference finals last season, these two teams get the rematch in the 2nd round this year. Toronto is coming off a tough series win over Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks while the Cavs breezed past Indiana.
Cleveland won the regular season series 3-1 although not much can be taken from that. The first three games were all before Christmas and in the lone Toronto win, Cleveland’s Big Three didn’t play.
It will be interesting to see if the Raptors continue their newfound small-ball movement in this series. After the 3rd game of the Milwaukee series, Toronto started Norman Powell as a small-ball 4 and moved Serge Ibaka to center (leaving Jonas Valanciunas on the bench). This helped clear some room for the Toronto guards to do what they do, especially against a long, athletic Bucks team. Toronto could go back to the traditional line up in this matchup but I am sure we’ll see plenty of small-ball.
The one area of concern for Cleveland is their defense. Specifically, their pick-and-roll defense. The Cavs are not good at defending the PNR and Toronto led the league with 24.5 points per game off the PNR. Both Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan really struggled with Milwaukee’s length in the first round so they are no doubt fired up to attack Cleveland’s defense. This dynamic could be the key to the series, especially when Toronto goes small with Powell.
From an investment perspective, I think looking at the total and considering the over, especially early in the series if Toronto goes small, could be profitable. Toronto will be physical and aggressive but when Powell plays the 4, it should be a fast paced game.
Unfortunately for Toronto, the Cavs still have LeBron. He went into beast-mode against the Pacers, averaging 32.8 points, 9 assists and 9.8 rebounds. He’ll be the best player on the court by a wide margin once again and, regardless who Toronto throws at him, the Raptors will have no answer. Cavs in 6.
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