1/20/10
by: Scott
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We didn't really think the Raptors were going to go into Cleveland and actually beat the Cavs, did we? Sure, you can make the case that the Raptors could have made it interesting if they hadn't missed their last five shot attempts or if Jose Calderon and Hedo Turkoglu had been a little more productive than combining for nine points on 3-for-15 shooting in 50 minutes. On the other hand, how often is LeBron James going to miss all seven three-point attempts and when is the next time we'll see Antoine Wright go five-for-eight from the field? This game turned out pretty much the way we should have expected — with the likely Eastern Conference champions holding it down at home.
You need to play pretty much a perfect game to beat a team of Cleveland's caliber on their home court, and the Raptors were most definitely not perfect last night. Too many missed open shots, too many ill-timed turnovers, too many times letting Shaq catch the ball deep in the post. And then there was LeBron, who finished a single rebound away from a triple-double while adding three blocks and three steals into his statistical buffet. He's the best player in the NBA and anybody who doesn't think so is a hater or just doesn't watch much basketball.
I actually thought the Raptors played LeBron pretty well, under the circustances. They convinced him to settle for outside jumpers (still the one weak spot in his game) a number of times and frequently defer to his less-skilled teammates so he didn't completely dominate the game single-handedly. But Shaq and Mo Williams are both pretty good second options and they took advantage of their opportunities last night. Mo understands his role very well and when he's converting his open looks while LeBron is performing at that level, the Cavs are very, very difficult to beat.
Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani provided their standard 40 points and 16 rebounds last night and DeMar DeRozan continued to show increased confidence in his offensive game with his sixth double-digit scoring output in his last 10 games. DeRozan was hot early, making his first four shots and scoring eight of the Raptors' first 18 points halfway into the first quarter. To Jay Triano's credit, he played DeRozan for the entire first quarter. More puzzlingly, he only saw the court for 12 meaningless seconds near the end of the last 15 minutes of the game. At some point, I'd like to see how he'll peform in a late-game, clutch situation. The Raptors certainly couldn't have fared worse with him out there for the final minutes.
There really isn't much the Raptors can take away from a game like this. Regardless of the fact that they were only down four points with 2:44 to go in the fourth quarter, I didn't get the sense that the Cavs — and LeBron, in particular — were going to let this one get away from them. They did what winning teams do: Elevate their defensive intensity late in the game and force their opponents to have to make tough shots in order to pull off the upset. That didn't happen, obviously, but while I wouldn't go so far to try to claim a moral victory from this, the Raptors did look like they belonged on the court with the best team in the conference. That's something, right?
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