FanPost

Raptors Can't Be More Ready for the Cavs

This is a fan post and I don’t get paid for writing anything so I will write this one in the first person reminding those who would care to read that this is just the personal opinion of an amateur and everyone is free to disagree.

It has finally come to pass that the Raptors indeed took the Heat to a full 7 games - albeit not using Scola like I suggested as one of many ways they can prolong the series, did use a bit of James Johnson but mainly used 2 away games to experiment different things leading to the same end – thus vying time for Jonas Valanciunas to heal from ankle sprain.

There are two blessings that came out of this series, namely, the confirmation of Bismack Biyombo as the real deal making it not that urgent to rush a Jonas return, and, the Raptors could not have been blessed with a better sparring partner than the Miami Heat in preparing them against Cleveland which is arguably a Lebron James orchestrated if not "coached" team. Defending against a team LBJ came from and only achieved success with, led by a snake head like Dwyane Wade, although different, smaller, and still not LBJ, is as close as it gets to practising how to play against LBJ.

This morning on the FAN 590, ESPN’s Bruce Hooley said the Raptors are now playing with House money. On the other hand, there are Raptor fans who still worry that Cleveland might win the series raining 3’s on the Raptors. I can see the Cavs trying to win a game or two but if Cavs coaching staff think they can win the entire series shooting 3's, then they would be playing with "Mickey money." When coach Dwayne Casey said we are not done yet, I believe him. Even if at arithmetic level 3 > 2, one just needs to go a bit higher in mathematics to know that the 3 is the lower percentage shot compared to the 2, if defended properly. Odds are, 2 wins over 3. There are generally two ways of shooting the basketball from mid or far distance – create your own or catch and shoot. When it comes to shooting from beyond the 3 point arc, the entire NBA in my opinion only has one player who can create his own shot and still have a high rate of success – Steph Curry. Everyone else is only effective as a catch and shoot player when it comes to the trey, including Klay Thompson, of course Kyrie Irving who is a very good create own shot player but not when creating a good trey attempt with low risk of missing, not to mention Love and Frye who are totally catch and shoot players. For catch and shoot players, catching the pass at the right time is everything as a split second too early or too late will mess up the shooter’s rhythm. So the Raptors defense must start with messing up the timing of whoever is passing the ball to the open shooter. In many instances this will be Lebron James. DeMarre Carroll and James Johnson will be tasked with making LBJ do something extra than what he normally does before passing the ball. When the Cavs realized the Raptors figured this out unlike Atlanta (which could not be blamed because they no longer have DeMarre to harass LBJ), they will try to adjust by having someone drive into the lane to generate chaos then kick the ball back out to open shooters, now this was what the Heat did and succeeded in game 6 but found the Raptors had closed the lanes in game 7. This is all about all 5 Raptor defenders’ willingness to work extra hard expanding, collapsing, switching and helping. One more thing about defending Lebron James. He has built himself an aura that when he drives to the basket, most opposing players just scamper away for fear of getting hurt or posterized. We know this definitely won’t be the case with JYD 2.0 or JJ. If LBJ gets past his primary defender and tries to take it to the basket, I am also confident that Bismack Biyombo would gladly gamble being on a LBJ poster with a poster of his own wagging the Mutombo finger complete with a Jack Armstrong caption "get that garbage outta here." Tyson Chandler, under defense coach Dwayne Casey did just that when Dallas won over the Heat.

When it comes to the Raptors offense, one thing to improve on in my opinion is to improve ball movement, emulating the way San Antonio passed the ball and not let it stick on their way to conquer Miami 2 seasons ago. Cory Joseph has to remember his primary job is to get his team on the same page, not looking for his own points.

Finally, what should the Raptors pay attention to when it comes to how Cleveland will play Lowry and DeRozan?

First Kyle. He seems to be on a roll right now so he must watch out not to get cornered where Delavedova can try something to get into his head, as in rough plays bordering on the dirty. If ever this happens, the Raptors better be prepared to pay back in kind on say Kyrie Irving.

Now Demar. One difference in this series is we will most likely see Lebron James himself guarding DeRozan especially during end game. What this means is that the length and long wingspan of Luol Deng and Paul George which were very effective in making DeRozan change his shot are off the table but immediately replaced by reputation, LBJ’s reputation. DeMar should be prepared with the referees giving LBJ the benefit of the doubt on a few fouls because he’s Lebron James, keep his head up and continue attacking hard.