Eastern Conference Finals Game 4 : Cleveland Cavaliers @ Toronto Raptors, May 23rd, 8:30pm

[The Wizard of Moz]

Eastern Conference Finals Game 4: Getting Back on Track

Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Toronto Raptors
8:30pm on ESPN
Cavs lead 2-1
@Air Canada Centre

Introducing: YOUR Cleveland Cavaliers!!



At PG: Your Cavaliers' leading scorer in these 2016 NBA playoffs: Kyrie Irving

At SG: The man with the highest 3 point FG% in the NBA playoffs of players with at least 50 attempts: JR Smith

At SF: the only player in the NBA in the top 5 for both steals and assists per game this postseason: LeBron James

At PF- Second in the NBA in postseason double-doubles despite his team playing less games than an already eliminated team (by 3): Kevin Love

At Center: averaging a mind-boggling offensive rebound every 6 minutes and twenty seconds propelling him into third in the NBA postseason in ORPG despite playing less than 30 MPG- Tristan Thompson

Featuring the best bench in the NBA

Iman Shumpert
Matthew Dellevadova
Channing Frye
Timofey Mozgov
Jordan McRae
Mo Williams
Richard Jefferson
James Jones
Dahntay Jones
Sasha Kaun



And one of many casualties along the way of the Cleveland Cavalier's first NBA championship: The Toronto Raptors

PG- Kyle "needs to decompress" Lowry

SG- Demar 'the posterchild for inefficiency' Derozan

At SF: He wasn't satisfied with last year's ECF sweeping, so he came back for more with a new meme team! The LeBron stopper himself! DeMarre Carroll

PF- Luis 'How the hell am I starting in the ECF' Scola

C- Bismack 'Obligatory fake tough guy' Biyombo

Bench- #REF


Game Preview (My Spicy Take on the Game)
​

Well, the streak is over. And to be fair it was a damn impressive streak falling one short of the NBA record for best playoff start in history, and besting our best regular season win streak by 2 games.

We had an awful game 4. Quite easily the worst playoff game we have played this year. We shot 35.4% from the floor and 34.1% from 3. Kyrie and Kevin had their worst games of their playoff lives, and this was the first playoff game in two years that we have lost while fully healthy. Derozan and Lowry, two of the worst players in the NBA this postseason, actually showed a pulse, and I would argue that Toronto played about as well as they are capable of playing while I would find it hard to believe the Cavs could have played much worse.

There is no reason for fear. There is no reason for doubt. We still are the far superior team, and we come out in this one strong to take a 3-1 lead back to the Land for a closeout game 5.

fuck Biyombo and as always GO CAVS.

Spoiler: Memes

 

[KilgoreTrout]

I would give a "like", a "winner", an "informative", and a "useful", if I could.

Superior work.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

I am back to being apprehensive, but I hope the Cavs get serious, tomorrow night, and take care of business. I pray that the energy level is there, that the shots fall, and that the Raps don't play out of their heads. Don't let the crowd get into it at all. A tied series would be very unsavory.

 

[macbdog]

So any word on why Irving had to leave the floor before the end of the game? Did he have to decompress? Is it a lasting injury? Love turtled up in this game but I have to suspect he is hurt, his whole game was just uncharacteristic.

 

[Mr. Orange]

We finally have an interesting playoff game with a little bit of pressure. Monday is the first true test, the first true meaningful game we have had since game 6 last June. On the road, just got our teeth kicked in (shoutout to KLove) and need to reassert ourselves. We needed the streak to end. We needed a test. I thank the Raps for that.

We are right were we want to be. Game 3 was exactly what we needed to begin the push for the final 6.

 

[BigErieCavsFan]

only issue is we better not have an awful game 4. Game 3 was awful enough.

 

[jlegg21]

So any word on why Irving had to leave the floor before the end of the game? Did he have to decompress? Is it a lasting injury? Love turtled up in this game but I have to suspect he is hurt, his whole game was just uncharacteristic.

Irving took a shot to the chest and apparently had his wind knocked out. Pretty sure Love's shoulder is sore from the bump he took late in game 2.

I expect a supreme Lebron performance and much better offensive performance from everyone. TT needs to quit worrying about Bismack the phony hack and just play his game. Get JR off early so he's in a rhythm.

Cavs by 15 tomorrow... up 3-1 and close out this bitch at home.

 

[Andrew]

I can't wait for the Cavaliers to smash any sort of unrealistic confidence the Raptors gained from game 3.

 

[JFT]

Warriors toasty. Prepare for Thunder.

 

[Frank Stallone]

Amped. Excited to see them truly dialed in. This may end up being a good thing that they have to face a little adversity.

Even with the rebounding, had the Cavs made shots they would've won the other night. Or at least it would've gone down to the wire. Just need to have shots drop. Simple as that. The rebounding, of course, can help with this being easy as the first two.

 

[Rich]

Well, here's hoping that this isn't the game Lowry and DeRozan just go absolutely nuts and can't miss. We should never have lost Game 3. The Raptors did not play that well, we just played awful. There's always a chance in this league that you can play well and still lose because the other team just won't miss. That's why you can't give away a game like we did Friday due to lazy play.

Win this game. Please. There's a legit shot the Thunder beat the Warriors now. Win. This. Game.

 

[Jscc]

Win this game. Please. There's a legit shot the Thunder beat the Warriors now. Win. This. Game.

Frankly, if we don't, we don't deserve to get past Toronto. I thought the loss on Friday was a disaster personally. Lesser if we win tonight and greater if we don't.

 

[CLEistheCITY]

Frankly, if we don't, we don't deserve to get past Toronto. I thought the loss on Friday was a disaster personally. Lesser if we win tonight and greater if we don't.

So if we don't win tonight we don't deserve to win the entire series? That's a hot take if I have seen one. Aren't you the same poster that wanted this series to go 6-7 games?

 

[Jscc]

Aren't you the same poster that wanted this series to go 6-7 games?

I don't recall saying how long I prefer the series to go.. so I have no idea what you're talking about.

And yes, if we lose tonight, it's probably gonna be because we've been figured out or choked. Neither is appealing.

 

[Mr. Orange]

Frankly, if we don't, we don't deserve to get past Toronto. I thought the loss on Friday was a disaster personally. Lesser if we win tonight and greater if we don't.

Disaster?

The loss was good. Now we get to see who the real competitors are. I know James will be ready. Time for Kyrie and Love to show something. I would guess both guys played not to get hurt Saturday with the Finals so close and the memories of 2015.

Cavs will be fine.