Playoff Update
Sunday afternoon Lebron James was trying to avoid something that has never happened to him in his 15-year NBA career, a first-round exit. Following a disastrous Game 6 by the Cavs that saw Lebron only score 22 points and no other Cav get to the 15 mark, LeBron knew he needed to be locked in this game. He did not disappoint.
After starting off 7-7 from the field, LeBron kept pushing these downtrodden Cavaliers until they started realizing they were actually good at basketball. Once again, Cleveland built a double-digit first-half lead only to see it disappear in the third quarter. Another thing that disappeared in the third quarter, LeBron James. He was seen being escorted to the locker room near the end of the period with a team trainer. Luckily, it turned out to only be cramping and LeBron returned early in the fourth quarter. What he returned to was a little surprising.
While LeBron was out, the team actually built a decent lead back up. When he returned with 8:25 left in the game, the Cavs had an 8-point lead. Kevin Love came back from the dead, hitting two triples and scoring 8 points total in the fourth. Tristan Thompson delivered his best performance in ages, responding to being placed in the starting lineup with 15 points, 10 rebounds and a monster block late in the game. George Hill and J.R. Smith also contributed on both sides of the ball, scoring in double figures and playing tough defense on the Pacer's backcourt.
Lebron ended with another amazing stat line of 45 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists, and became the first player in NBA history to have 200 playoff games with 20 or more points. They finally put the pesky Pacers to bed, but the extended series also means less rest until they start one with Toronto. The team only has Monday off and then they're headed to Canada to face the Raptors on Tuesday night. Hopefully, the series will give the team some confidence. We all know Lebron is going to get burned out if he continues with the current average play time.
On to Toronto
Round 2 starts at 8:00 p.m. EST Tuesday night in Toronto. The Raptors came in as the #1 seed in the East this year and will be a tough test for the battle-weary Cavs. Expect a rough Game One from the 'Wine and Gold.' I wouldn't be surprised to see them lose the first one. Cleveland does match up a bit better with Toronto than they did Indiana, so hopefully they can use that and limit the scoring to DeRozan and Valanciunas.
Cover photo credits: By Erik Drost (Cleveland Cavaliers) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons>via Wikimedia Commons
Author: @jaymesbawned
Editor: @liberty-minded
Man we all, mostly already know ,come play off time those Raptors starting sing I love you
Haha, they looked like it last night!