The Grind
The Cleveland Cavaliers did in Game 1 what ever championship team needs to do. They rebounded. The Cavaliers out-rebounded the Raptors by 22.
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This was important to how Toronto played this game defensively. They only commendable aspect of the game for the Raptors is that they cooled the Cavs’ scorching hot three-point shooting. The man-to-man, little-help defensive that the Raptors played allowed for straight-line drives and 56 points in the paint – 20 more than the Raptors had.
The Cavaliers were 34-54 from inside the paint which is an incredible 62.9 percent. Cleveland shot 7-20 from behind the three-point line which is 35 percent. The Cavaliers during this playoffs made 15.7 three per game; so, this game was a major let down from three-point land.
The exciting thing about this game for the Cavaliers was that they proved that they do not live or die by the three. They made less than half of their normal amount of threes this game. Cleveland should be excited because they are here to stay and have proved that.
The Cavaliers have grinded nine wins from these playoffs so far, and anything less than 16 and a championship would be a major let down for them.
Next: The King