LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are back in the Eastern Conference finals after completing a four-game sweep of the Toronto Raptors on Monday night. The dominating win provides some relief to concerns that King James and the Cavs were losing some of their postseason mojo.
Cleveland had little trouble in a 128-93 win in Game 4, with James once again leading the way by averaging 34 points per game in the series. But unlike in the first round of the playoffs, when his teammates struggled to contribute in a 4-3 series win over the Indiana Pacers, this time around LeBron got plenty of help.
‘Other Cavaliers’ Step Up
Kevin Love, the only other player to average double digits in the first round, was more consistent against Toronto, scoring 20.5 points per game. Kyle Korver added 14.5 points per contest, with JR Smith, Jeff Green, and George Hill also contributing double digits.
The struggles of the “Other Cavaliers” were highlighted in a Saturday Night Live sketch that mocked James’ teammates, with actors portraying Cleveland’s supporting cast saying they could help LeBron with just about anything – other than basketball.
After Game 4, James said that he never had to talk to his teammates about the public perception about their contributions, or lack thereof.
“I don’t get caught up in that,” James told ESPN. “But I knew mentally, maybe, what was going on in their head. But for me, it’s about, I’m going to show them how much I trust them and how much I believe in them.”
Korver said that the dramatic seven-game series against the Pacers may have been just what Cleveland needed going forward.
“Every quarter felt like really important, and it was, but I think we learned a lot about ourselves in the series, and I think the Pacers made us better,” Korver told reporters after Game 4. “I don’t know if we win this series like this if we didn’t go through that in our first series, so hopefully we keep learning our lessons and continue to get better.”
Cleveland Back in Contention?
The Cavaliers now wait to see who they will play in the Eastern Conference finals. They’ll take on the winner of the series between the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers. The Celtics currently hold a 3-1 lead after the Sixers scored a 103-92 victory on Monday to avoid a sweep.
Cleveland’s unremarkable season and first round struggles had lengthened their odds of winning an NBA championship this season, but oddsmakers are starting to give them more respect after their convincing win over Toronto. The Cavs are now 5/1 to win the title according to William Hill, trailing only the Houston Rockets (2/1) and the favored Golden State Warriors (8/11).
Meanwhile, the Raptors were forced to consider why yet another excellent season came to an early end in the playoffs. While Toronto had a franchise best 59 wins in the regular season and earned the No. 1 seed in the east, this was the third consecutive year in which the Raptors were knocked out of the playoffs by the Cavaliers.
“I felt like the whole season we were top five defensively and offensively,” said Toronto forward Pascal Siakam. “In the playoffs, we just never really got both of those things together. I don’t think we ever had a game where we felt like we did everything that we could and we played like ourselves.”
