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Throughout the NBA play-offs, The National’s resident NBA dudes Jonathan Raymond and Kevin Jeffers will be breaking down the key talking points of the night before, plus looking around the scope of the league. Today, they discuss the Eastern Conference Finals, where LeBron James’s well-rested Cleveland Cavaliers take on the battle-tested Toronto Raptors.
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Kevin Jeffers
Fun fact: The Cavaliers have never lost a play-off game with Kevin Love in the line-up.
Less fun fact: The Toronto Raptors barely beat the Indiana Pacers and the Miami Heat’s under-7-foot-team.
So my question to you, dear Jon, is: Why would someone want to live in Canada?
Jonathan Raymond
I’ve only been to Montreal once, but as far as my impressions of Canada go, it would be a magnificent place to live.
It would probably not be a great place, the Toronto area specifically, to spend the next week, however. ‘Cause the Raptors are gonna get hammered.
Look, we're not beyond being wrong – way wrong! – but doubting the sheer will of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and doubting the Kyle Lowry-and-DeMar DeRozan crawling-up-a-mountain offence are two different things entirely.
The Cavs have unveiled new looks – the "stand four dudes outside, leave everything open for LeBron, what're you gonna do about it?" offensive set being my favourite – and reached a level that is so far beyond the grittiest, guttiest heights of the Raptors, it's hard to believe they're playing the same sport. In a best-case scenario, throwing the rock to Jonas Valanciunas unrelentingly inside as a counter to the Cavaliers' three-point Niagara Falls would might shape the series into looking something like last year's Finals, ironically enough.
The obvious hitch with the Raptors being the Cavs to the Cavs’ new Warriors look in this scenario is the Raps don’t, uh, have a LeBron.
Toronto’s toast.
KJ
But hey! It’s officially the furthest the Raptors have ever made it. This season was a success. And they got there way sooner in their history than the Hawks did last year.
Unfortunately, they’re probably going to meet the same fate of those Hawks and get swept right out. They’ve had to play two straight 7-game series, and unlike in the West where they’ll have a four-day break at one point, the East Finals will be playing every other day through the end. The Cavs are as well-rested as any team at this point has any business of being, coming off two straight sweeps.
There’s always the chance that DeRozan and Lowry could go off in the same game for once, but I do -- oh, never mind the Cavs just hit a three-pointer while writing that. This is over.
JR
Yeah. Also I just remembered they won’t even have Valanciunas.
Cavs in 4.
KJ
I’ll say Cavs in 5 because I refuse for any team to go through an entire conference post-season undefeated.
What’s funny is I thought the East would be competitive this year, since the regular season was a little more balanced.
Nope. This is all Cavs. LeBron is still the king of the East.
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