Having Jonas Valanciunas back in a Raptors uniform is a huge boost to the team’s confidence heading back to Cleveland, two wins away from a shot at an NBA Championship. But don’t expect the big man to step back into a major role in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.
The seven-foot double-double machine went out with a sprained right ankle in Game 3 of the Raptors battle with Miami in the Conference semi-finals, and without him few expected Toronto to have a chance against Cleveland. In the first two games of the series, it looked like those assumptions were correct.
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But fueled by home court and a roaring crowd in games three and four, backup centre Bismack Biyombo came up big when the Raptors needed him most. His tenacity on the glass— 40 boards in the last two games— has created essential opportunities for the Raptors, as the all-star duo of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan have pulled themselves out of their respective scoring slumps.
That mix, along with much improved defence, has drastically shifted the momentum in Toronto’s favour.
While Valanciunas’ return provides a scoring threat in the paint, with the ability to dish from the top of the key, it’s a role that best benefits the team in limited spurts off the bench, if he plays at all.
A huge part of Biyombo’s impact on the Raptors recent success is his ability to move out to the perimeter and put pressure on a Cavaliers team that can shoot from every position on the court. Valanciunas, although a beast in the paint, is much less effective in that role, especially coming off an ankle injury.
“Hopefully we can get [Valanciunas] involved, but again it depends on the lineup they put on the court,” coach Dwayne Casey said on Tuesday. “He’s our starting centre, but it’s tough to put him out there if they are playing Channing Frye big minutes at the five. We just have to make sure that we see who is out on the court, and try to make sure he has a match up and not out their chasing three-point shooters all around the perimeter.”
Toronto was easily outmatched in the first two games in Cleveland, allowing LeBron James and company to score at will in a flurry of runs that put the game out of reach early. Any hope the Raptors have to knock off the Cavaliers— in what has become a best-of-three series— will depend on maintaining the offensive rhythm and staunch defensive that they established in games three and four, Casey said.
Filling in for Valanciunas, Biyombo has set the physical and emotional tone of the Raptors’ comeback. Aside from fouling him, the Cavaliers haven’t found an answer for the big man’s active play. For the time being, it’s made him more valuable than Valanciunas, who averaged 13 points and just under 10 boards a game through the regular season and is emerging as one of the best young centres in the game.
For the Raptors, finally playing with the kind of confidence that led them to the best season in franchise history, having Valanciunas filling in as a limited option off the bench is the best kind of problem to have.
“At this time of year, no matter who you are, you’re going to put your best players on the floor, the guys who are producing, no matter what,” Casey said. “You’re not really thinking big picture right now. You’re thinking about winning the battle in front of you.”