Do The Raptors Have A Chance?
Let's first take a moment to soak in this bit of history. The Raptors are in the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history. A playoff run that started with questions of whether or not they would make it out of the first round for the third straight year, is now at the point where no matter what happens in this upcoming series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, this season was a success.
Now looking at this Eastern Conference Final, barely anybody is giving the Raptors a shot to even win a game let alone the series. I will put my Raptors fandom aside by saying that the Cavs will definitely win this series, but I'm not ready to say that this will be another cakewalk series for Cleveland. We all know that basketball is all about matchups, and I think that the Raptors match up very well with this team.
Point guard Kyle Lowry has had 3 great games in their regular season meetings this year, averaging 31 points and 8 assists per game with a PER of 45, by far the highest in the league against the Cavs this season. The backcourt of the Raptors is also heating up at the right time. Lowry and DeRozan have combined for 60+ points in their last 3 games, doing so for the first time in their 4 years together. DeMarre Carroll has done a pretty good job defending LeBron James in the past, including this regular season holding him to 18 points per game on 42% shooting. The Raptors also have various personnel that can rotate defending LeBron giving him different looks, whether it's Carroll, Terrence Ross or even the seldom used James Johnson. The obvious big advantage that they are missing is down in the paint with the injury to Jonas Valanciunas. He was on his way to having the best post-season of his career until he went down with an ankle injury in game 5 against the Heat, his presence down low would have taken tons of pressure off of Lowry and DeRozan on offense as well as provide a 3rd scoring threat.
All that being said, I'll give the my Raptors 2 games in this series, whether they steal game 1 or they take one game at home and game 5 on the road at Cleveland, this series will go 6 games. With the Cavs being the victor. For the Raptors to have a legit chance to win this series, the backcourt of Lowry and DeRozan have to stay hot, DeMarre Carroll has to at least hinder and annoy LeBron, and the Cavs have to cool off of their record 3 point shooting pace.
