The Toronto Raptors narrowly survived Game 6 to advance past the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
Their reward? LeBron James and the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers, the team that ousted the Raptors in the Conference finals last season.
The Raptors are improved thanks to the additions of Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker, plus a breakout post-season from second-year guard Norman Powell. But is it enough to make a difference this time around?
Here’s a look at the positional matchups heading into the Raptors-Cavaliers series:
POINT GUARD
Kyrie Irving is a problem. With the exception of an extremely short list of guard stoppers that begins and ends with Boston’s Avery Bradley, the Cavs all-star point guard can toy with and dominate against virtually any backcourt matchup in the NBA.
In four games versus the Raptors this season, Irving is averaging just shy of 25 points per game while shooting a white-hot 47.4 per cent from deep — the fifth-highest total against all NBA teams. Save for possibly Powell, the Raps don’t have anybody on the roster who can contain Irving, which should be a terrifying notion for Toronto fans who already saw the 24-year old average 24 points against their team during Cleveland’s third-round victory in last year’s playoffs.
The Raps respond with an all-star point guard of their own, but Kyle Lowry hasn’t exactly inspired a ton of confidence thus far in the playoffs. In the first round against Milwaukee, the impending free agent averaged just 14.3 points, 5.2 assists, and 3.7 rebounds per game, while shooting 42.6 per cent from the floor and a jarring 28.1 per cent from deep after shooting over 41 per cent from beyond the arc during the regular season.
Edge: Cleveland.
SHOOTING GUARD
The Cavs boast solid three-point shooters at the two-spot in Iman Shumpert, Kyle Korver, and J.R. Smith, a worrying notion for a Raptors team which struggles mightily against long-range shots to begin with.
But the Raptors boast DeMar DeRozan, who should wind up as the second or third best player in the series (behind Irving and James). Unlike Lowry, DeRozan, for the most part, was the go-to star the Raps needed him to be in Round 1. He averaged 23.5 points versus the Bucks — that’s including his eight-point stinker in Game 3 — and stepped up with 32 points in the Raptors’ close-out Game 6 on Thursday.
Edge: Toronto
Frontcourt
Despite the fact that Tucker has played him tough in the past, LeBron cannot be stopped. So let’s move on to the rest of Cleveland’s frontcourt.
Tristan Thompson dominates the offensive glass like few other bigs in basketball, and in his lone matchup with Ibaka (when the Raptors new starting power forward was a member of the Orlando Magic), the Brampton, Ont., native managed 12 boards (four offensive). Interior size was a minor issue for the Cavs at times this season with the departure of Timofey Mozgov (who, admittedly, wasn’t a factor for Cleveland once the playoffs rolled around last year) as the club played James at the four and shifted Thompson over to the five.
It remains to be seen if Powell will again get the starting nod against the Cavs, but it’s likely he does given how much Jonas Valanciunas struggles to guard Thompson, who exploited the Raptors big man’s poor pick-and-roll defensive coverage every time they matched up.
Patrick Patterson should play a bigger role in this series, with his ability to step out to the perimeter to guard Cleveland’s sweet-shooting big man Channing Frye, but with James logging a ton of minutes at power forward, it means Tucker and DeMarre Carroll will have to be as physical and active as possible in an effort to contain James. Best of luck with that.
Edge: Cleveland.
Game 1 tips off Monday night at 7 p.m. ET.
