It is official – we are in postseason, baby! The Cleveland Cavaliers, seeded fourth in the Eastern Conference, take on the Toronto Raptors who are fifth, earning Cleveland the home-court advantage for Round 1. With three games underway at the time of this writing, the Cavs lead 2-1, winning both of their home games and losing the game on the road.
The Cavaliers, for the first time all season, are walking into the playoffs with a completely healthy roster. I am confident that it gave them a large push going into the series, with almost everyone getting minutes.
In Cleveland and Toronto’s first matchup on April 18, the Cavs came through with a 126-113 victory, with some impressive scoring from the guards. Donovan Mitchell, unsurprising to many, scored 32 points on 11-20 shooting from the field. He came out hungry for a win. After him was bench player and former starter Max Strus, scoring 24 points. He went eight for ten from the field and ended up having the highest-scoring playoff game of his career. Additionally, according to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Strus became the first player in Cavs history to score at least 20 points while going at least 80% from the field as a bench player.
Two days later, on April 20, the teams stayed on Cleveland’s floor for Game 2, which ended with the Cavs going up 2-0 with a 115-105 win. Mitchell had back-to-back 30-point games, scoring 30 that night. James Harden was right behind him with 28 points and Evan Mobley had a strong 25. Cleveland’s bench did not contribute quite as much, only scoring 19 points among the five who got floor time.
Unfortunately, Cleveland’s strong sputtered out in Game 3, resulting in a 22-point loss for the Cavs. Toronto outscored them in three of the four quarters, but this game came down to the fourth quarter, where Toronto put down 43 points to Cleveland’s 23, ending 104-126. On the Raptors, Scottie Barnes and R.J. Barrett each had 33 points along with Collin Murray-Boyles with 22 and Jamison Battle with 14 off the bench. Cleveland, however, had a very strong distribution of points, with six players scoring in double digits, including Harden, Mitchell, Mobley, Strus, Jarrett Allen, and Jaylon Tyson.
Ultimately, the loss came because of a late-game fourth quarter collapse, and the Cavs’ 20 turnovers throughout the game.
With the Cleveland-Toronto series officially going to at least five games, they will for sure battle it out again on Cleveland’s court on April 29, with Game 6 and Game 7 being on May 1 and 3 if it comes to that. Personally, I think this Game 3 loss isn’t a bad thing. A little wake-up call for Cleveland is a good thing, giving them the extra push to get through the rest of the series as swiftly as possible. If the Cavaliers make it to the Eastern Conference Semifinals, they would either play the Detroit Pistons or the Orlando Magic, with that series currently tied 1-1. Detroit has been dominating all regular season, going 60-22 on the year, putting them third in the league, and would make for a tough matchup for the Cavs.
It is an exciting time of the year to be an NBA fan! I truly believe in this Cavaliers team and the strength we have in our starting five and bench. All we need is grit and internal drive to get us around this corner and into the semifinals. Let’s go Cavs!