The Cleveland Cavaliers are not a very good basketball team right now. Even after beating Milwaukee on Monday, they’re just .500 since the all-star break and they’ve been three games under .500 since mid-December when they had a 23-8 record.
The Cavs are clinging to the third seed and homecourt advantage in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. Never mind the later rounds. They punted on competing for higher seeds months ago.
They also just their lost coach, Tyronn Lue, who announced he was stepping away for a week to recover from what he described as a variety of ailments, including chest pains and a lack of sleep.
Things are not good in Cleveland, but are they really as dire as they seem?
Let’s start with Lue, who will never get the credit he deserves. The reality of working with LeBron is that coaches get little credit and most of the blame when things go wrong.
No one cries for LeBron’s coach, nor should they since his presence has guaranteed a trip to the Finals the last seven years and counting. That doesn’t make it easy, however. Having LeBron also means living with intense scrutiny and even the smallest story can become headline news.
The Cavaliers win an incredible game, 132-129.
Toronto was amazing, but Cleveland’s second half surge — led by LeBron James’ 35 points, 17 assists, and zero turnovers — was too much. We’ve seen that story before. That said, the Raptors have been part of some incredible games this year. Props to them.
The Cavaliers got punched in the face in the third quarter, but came out swinging in the second half. Cleveland has cut Toronto’s once 15-point lead down to just one and enter the fourth quarter trailing, 99-98.
Jose Calderon has gone four-of-four from three. George Hill has 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting. In total, every Cleveland starter has scored in double figures.
Down 15 at the half, Cleveland came out swinging in the second half. They cut the lead down to as little as eight but trail 83-73 right now.
The Raptors ran up 79 points against the Cavaliers in the first half of their matchup on Wednesday. It was the most points Toronto has scored in a half all season long.
On the very last possession of the half, LeBron James inexplicably left Fred VanVleet wide open in the corner.
The first quarter of Cavaliers vs. Raptors has been a shootout and Cleveland looks like they’ll be entering the second period with a slight advantage. Toronto is playing the second of a back-to-back, coming off of a seven-point win over Orlando. But the Raptors look anything but tired, at least in the first quarter.
There is no defense in this game, that’s for sure. LeBron James already almost has a double double with nine points and seven early assists. And the Cavaliers as a team are 5-of-6 from deep.
The only thing we know for sure is that neither of the Raptors nor the Cavs are playing defense. This one’s going to be a barn burner.
Two East powerhouse teams will go toe-to-toe in a showdown that could be an early peek into this year’s Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavaliers and Raptors will battle it out on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. ET in a matchup televised nationally on ESPN and available for live stream on Watch ESPN.
The Raptors have seized the No. 1 seed in the East thank’s to a revamped offensive system highlighted by All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan, who remade his game over the summer. He is enjoying the best season of his career, and the Raptors are poised to make a legitimate championship run largely because of his play.
Toronto isn’t just a one-man show. Their bench is playing as good as any second unit in the NBA. Kyle Lowry is a bulldog at the point guard slot, and Jonas Valanciunas is having another solid season. Toronto is in the midst of their third straight 50-win season, but they’ve got their eyes set on a bigger goal this year.