The Cleveland Cavaliers cruised to a 116-78 win in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, taking a 3-2 series lead against the Raptors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yktORdW0-zo
Game six will be played on Friday in Toronto.
The Toronto Raptors are for real. They survived a furious second-half comeback from the Cleveland Cavaliers and held on to win Game 4, 105-99, to even the Eastern Conference Finals at 2-2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L9WuoFxy-8
Kyle Lowry had 35 points and DeMar DeRozan added 32 as the Raptors outplayed the Cavaliers down the stretch after coughing up an 18-point lead.
LeBron James had 29 points, nine rebounds and six assists to lead the Cavaliers, and Kyrie Irving added 26. Channing Frye added 12 big points off the bench in the loss.
The Raptors led 13-5 early, but once Frye came in, the Cavaliers went on a 15-7 run to get back into the game. The Raptors continued to play well, though, and took a 27-24 lead after one.
Lowry poured it on in the second quarter — he had 15 in the frame and 20 in the first half as the Raptors lead grew to 18 at one point and went into the half with a 57-41 lead.
The Cavaliers came out with purpose in the second half and started making some threes. They cut the lead to seven early in the third, but the Raptors continued to have an answer, especially with Bismack Biyombo continuing his dominance in the paint.
Source : sbnation
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers faces an uphill task as they face Kyle Lowry’s Toronto Raptors at the Quicken Loans Arena in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Cavaliers handily swept aside Detroit and Atlanta, the Raptors were battling through an up-and-down post-season. DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry’s recent return to all-star form has been the big story-line heading into the Eastern final.
Over the past three games, Toronto’s dynamic duo have combined to average 60.3 points, 12.3 rebounds and 7.6 assists per game. They clearly have momentum going into the series with Cleveland, but fatigue needs to be considered.
Probable starting line up
Toronto: Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, DeMarre Carroll, Patrick Patterson, Bismack Biyombo.
Cleveland: Kyrie Irving, J.R. Smith, LeBron James, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson.
Key matchup: DeMarre Carroll vs. LeBron James. James has long been the toughest assignment in the Eastern Conference, but with a healthy supporting cast that’s shooting at an unprecedented clip — a playoff-best 134 threes made on 46.2 per cent shooting — he’ll be more difficult to check than ever.
Slowing James’ scoring is one thing, but if he’s finding his hot-shooting teammates, it creates another problem for the Raptors. The Raptors acquired Carroll for match-ups like these.
NEED TO KNOW
Kyle Lowry averaged 32 points in the final three games of the second round and and shot better than 50 per cent twice (Games 3 and Game 7). DeMar DeRozan averaged 28.3 points in the final three games . Kevin Love has found his fit with the Cavs. He’s averaging 19 points and 12.5 rebounds per game in the playoffs this year, after putting up 14 points and seven rebounds in the first round last year .
The Cavs will go into Game 1 with nine days of rest, while the Raptors head into their second straight series of a game every other day.
PREDICTION : Cavs to sweep series
