#360view: Toronto's northern grit slows Le Bron's traditional march to NBA finals

Jay Asser 10:15 25/05/2016
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  • Toronto Raptors.

    We’re two games away from the Toronto Raptors potentially reaching the NBA Finals after being two games away from what seemed like a certain sweep.

    That’s how quickly the Eastern Conference finals have been flipped on their head and almost no one saw it coming.

    Before Game 3, the Cleveland Cavaliers were rampaging with 10 straight wins and looked like they wouldn’t lose until meeting the challenger from the West – considered a formality at that point.

    The Raptors appeared to be just another speed bump on the road to the Finals, no different than the Detroit Pistons or Atlanta Hawks.

    And yet, returning home to Air Canada Centre has somehow transformed Toronto into White Walkers who’ve frozen LeBron James and Co. in their tracks. It probably shouldn’t come as much of a shock considering their slogan is ‘We the North’.

    But all Drake and ‘6’ jokes aside, this rollercoaster of a series has been a major surprise. Even though it’s a match-up of the top two seeds in the East, the conference has been ruled by one player for the past five years.

    Over that span, LeBron has led the East’s Finals representative every season. He may be 31 and on the downward trajectory of his Hall of Fame career, but James is still an automatic write-in to reach the Finals at the start of every season.

    But what had really tilted the odds in his favour of playing in June for a sixth consecutive time was how on-point the rest of his team was.

    Basically, the Cavaliers looked as unstoppable as you imagined when LeBron and Kevin Love took their talents to Ohio before the 2014-15 campaign. Their offence was free-flowing, without weakness and unguardable, puncturing holes in opposing defences with their bombs-away style of shooting.

    Their efficiency has dropped from what was anyways an unsustainable rate, but they’re still content attacking with 3-pointer after 3-pointer as evidenced by 41 attempts from beyond the arc in each of the past two games.

    Part of that has been Cleveland’s approach and their confidence in the long-ball, but the Raptors deserve a lot of credit for their defence, especially Bismack Biyombo.

    Never given much thought during his five-year career, the back-up centre has blossomed in the playoffs and become a force since starter Jonas Valanciunas has been out with an ankle injury suffered in Game 3 of the second round.

    If Biyombo isn’t stuffing Cavaliers players at the rim, he’s altering their shots or making them think twice before attacking.

    His field goals defended at the rim percentage is 38.2, while only 17.4 per cent of Cleveland’s shots are layups when Biyombo is on the floor, compared to 42.1 per cent of attempts being 3-pointers, according to nbawowy.com. When he’s on the bench, those figures change to 22.6 per cent for layups and 32.1 per cent for threes.

    Biyombo has anchored the defence, but it’s no secret Toronto’s attack is predicated on the success of Kyle Lowry.

    Following Game 2, the All-Star point guard was shooting just 35.7 per cent for the playoffs, which was the worst mark in the last 50 postseasons for anyone who had attempted a minimum of 200 shots.

    A lingering elbow injury could explain some of the malaise, but whatever the reason, Lowry has been on his game since returning home and if the Raptors have any chance of pulling off this upset, he needs to be if not the best, then on par with James as the best player on the floor.

    Even if the Raptors don’t pull this off – the Cavaliers have two of the three games left at home – they’ve shown fight that no one else thought they had or expected.

    In many ways, that’s a win in its own right.

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