Last Time They Met In The Playoffs: Cavaliers vs Raptors
By Dante Nelson
When was the last time the Cleveland Cavaliers faced the Toronto Raptors in the NBA Playoffs?
In the history of the NBA Playoffs, we’ve seen teams from the same conference meet each other. Some teams seem to meet each other every year and other teams see each other barely. In this “Last time they met” series, we’re going to look at the current NBA Playoff matchups and review the last time these two teams met in the playoffs.
Today, we’re looking at the second round matchup of the 2nd seed Cleveland Cavaliers and the 3rd seed Toronto Raptors. The last time they faced each other was last year, 2016. So, this should be very fresh in our minds.
Last year, they met in the conference finals. Now, they’re meeting a round earlier.
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To be honest, the defending champion Cavaliers will likely cruise by again this year. But, yeah, in 2016, the Cavs’ smallest margin of victory was 19 points. That’s not a good sign. The Cavs won the series in six games. Not many people questioned the outcome of the series, and some folks were expecting a sweep.
I do remember it seemed like the Cavaliers were just playing games. Again, when they won, it was a blowout. Their largest margin of victory was 38 points, which is double the 19. I mean, have mercy.
Other than that, there wasn’t much to say for the series. The Raptors did their home fans proud by winning a couple of games in a row, both at home. That evened up the series. Then, the Cavaliers responded with the 38-point win and then a 26 point win in Toronto to finish things off.
This year, it’s expected the Cavaliers will advance. However, things might be more interesting this time around. The Cavaliers almost look like they took a step back while the Raptors seem like they took a step forward.
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I can’t imagine a sweep, but I also don’t see a Game 7 and Game 6 seems like that’s as far as this goes. So, basically a repeat of last year, but without the horrific blowouts the Raptors experienced.