The Cleveland Cavaliers made history with their three-point shooting in the first two rounds of the playoffs. They didn't need the three-ball in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, though, instead annihilating the Toronto Raptors in the paint as they coasted to a 115-84 win to take a 1-0 series lead.
NBA playoff scores 2016: Cavaliers don’t need 3-point shooting to dominate
The Cavaliers left the Raptors searching for answers after dominating the paint in an overwhelming Game 1 victory in the Eastern Conference Finals.
David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
With the Raptors so intent on stopping the Cavaliers from beating them from deep, Cleveland adjusted. They attacked the lane with ease on their way to a 55.4 percent shooting performance as they went 7-of-20 from deep in a blowout win as they moved to 9-0 in the playoffs.
Kyrie Irving led the way for the Cavaliers with 27 points and LeBron James and Kevin Love added 24 and 14 points, respectively. Cleveland's Big Three shot a combined 26-of-38 from the field, and they took only eight threes.
After relying so heavily on the three against the Atlanta Hawks in the second round, it made sense for the Raptors to attempt to stop the onslaught from continuing in the conference finals. But the Raptors forgot to defend anywhere else on the court. The Cavaliers are far from a one-trick pony, and they had a field day as the Raptors left the lane wide open.
This play is just one example of the Raptors’ shaky defense.
With Irving and Tristan Thompson working a pick-and-roll, Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and Patrick Patterson all find themselves glued to their men around the perimeter (Patterson at least thinks about trying to help, but isn't sure exactly what to do). The lane was wide open countless times (see below for the "Play of the night") for the Cavaliers because they impose such a threat from deep.
James’ shooting chart in the first half summed up the Raptors defense:
Cleveland dominated the glass, too. They outrebounded the Raptors 54-35 to assert even more dominance down low. Jonas Valanciunas would be a nice piece for the Raptors, but he's unlikely to be back for Game 2. The Raptors are overmatched, but they are capable of putting up a better performance than they did on Tuesday.
The Raptors ran into trouble not because they want to stop the three-point shooting, but because they can’t defend the Cavaliers stars one-on-one. Irving and James are getting by the defenders with ease, and it’s leading to easy buckets. Toronto is going to need to find a way to help out -- with enough hustle and scheming, they can at least rush to get a hand up on an open three. They have to do something differently than they did in Game 1. If not, this series is going to be over soon.
2 other things
At least DeMar DeRozan started playing well
DeRozan was shooting 35 percent from the field in the playoffs, and his inability to match his regular season output made it tougher for the Raptors to get through the first two rounds than expected. He was much better in Game 1, going 9-of-17 from the field and scoring 18 points, but no one else on his team could do anything. To go along with the extremely poor defensive effort, the Raptors couldn’t get anything going offensively. Lowry reverted to his pre-late-night shooting session form, going 4-of-14 from the field and 0-for-7 from deep, and only three Raptors scored in double figures. The Raptors must improve in nearly every aspect if they’re going to challenge the Cavaliers in any way.
Trust the process: The Philadelphia 76ers finally won the draft lottery
The NBA Draft lottery went chalk -- each team is picking in the spot they ended up in the final regular season standings. That means the 76ers have the first pick for the first time since taking Allen Iverson first in the 1996 draft. The Lakers were lucky to avoid losing their first-round pick. They ended up with the second pick, but they would have lost it if it had fallen out of the top three. You can see the full draft order here.
Play of the night
LeBron goes baseline for the show-stopping slam from all angles, powered by #Intel 360 replay technology. https://t.co/I9RlKI08AL
— NBA (@NBA) May 18, 2016
LeBron James is pretty good at this basketball thing, huh?
1 fun thing
Scores
Cavaliers 115, Raptors 84 (SB Nation recap | Fear the Sword recap | Raptors HQ recap)
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Blatant travels committed by Russell Westbrook
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