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Cavaliers: The Big Man Gameplan Against Toronto

By Quenton S. Albertie

May 26, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert celebrates with the Eastern Conference trophy after the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Atlanta Hawks in game four of the Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
May 26, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert celebrates with the Eastern Conference trophy after the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Atlanta Hawks in game four of the Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
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In part 2 of my preview of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors we look at the big men.

After discussing the backcourt matchups, an equally important matchup will be occurring in the frontcourt:

When Demarre Carroll plays as a power forward, which I expect to happen often, his defense against Channing Frye, Kevin Love, and LeBron James will be vital to his team’s aspirations to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. He’s more equipped to guard all of these players one-on-one than any of his teammates. For that reason, I expect Carroll and Bismack Biyombo to be the main frontcourt combo for the Raptors eventually. The Raptors won’t have to double and can switch easier. Love can bully Carroll on the block just as much as Carroll can blow by Love on the drive.

Biyombo and Tristan Thompson will both be by the basket since they’re covering each other. They both will have strong rim-protection if they’ll always be in the paint and not guarding centers at the three-point line.

Love will have to go up quickly, use his post fadeaway very effectively, and find Thompson inside to counter Biyombo’s shot-blocking. Thompson will have to devastate the Raptors with putback attempts and offensive rebounds that lead to kick-outs to James or Irving again. That will limit Biyombo’s ability to help Carroll or whoever is guarding in the post because he’ll truly have to focus on Thompson.

Honestly, the absence of Jonas Valanciunas is crucial for the Cavaliers. The Cavs really had no answer for the Lithuanian on the inside during the regular season, besides playing Timofey Mozgov or fronting Valanciunas in the post with Thompson, but now don’t have to worry about him.

If he does play, I expect to see Frye and Love on the floor a lot. They both will keep him out of the paint with their shooting range and Love will bruise him up contesting for rebounds. Biyombo can’t score in the post but is a difference maker for the Toronto Raptors. He’s undersized in height, but a huge shot blocking presence because of his elite instincts and athleticism and that reminds me of Ben Wallace. His screening also frees up other Raptors for a lot of points. For the Cavs, Biyombo will be taken away from the basket when Channing Frye or Kevin Love play center.

Tristan Thompson has the best physical and athletic profile against his matchups because he’ll have only the offensively one-dimensional one-way player Patrick Patterson, or Luis Scola who won’t keep up athletically.

The latter two also would be outplayed by Love in the post as well, so no matter the frontcourt combination for the Cavaliers, they won’t be much of a factor.

At center, Thompson and Biyombo mirror each other physically. I expect to see a lot of alley-oops and dunks off of cuts to the basket for Thompson and from a lot of connections from Matthew Dellavedova, who will play heavy minutes against the backcourt the Raptors keep ready on their bench, particularly former San Antonio Spur Cory Joseph and rookie Norman Powell. The Cavaliers will have a huge advantage on the boards and second chance points not just because of Thompson but because of the matchup problem presented by the Cavaliers frontcourt trio as a whole. The bigs will come up big in this matchup.

Frye is the big “big” player to watch from the bench. Frye’s importance is essentially to keep knocking down the three to draw Biyombo away from the paint and let Love, LeBron, and Irving go to work down there.  LeBron will live in the paint regardless. But it’s easier to convert there without having to jump with the ripped physique of Biyombo and contend with his timing and intelligence all the time, I’d imagine.

My prediction: “Here’s a broom for you! A broom for you! Broom’s for everybody!”.

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The Cavaliers should sweep their way through the Eastern conference despite a very competitive series against another tough opponent. The frontcourt matchup will be a challenge for the Raptors that they can’t overcome. In fact, I think Love will be the MVP of this series. LeBron will be the best player in the series. Irving will have the tough positional matchup that allows us all to better assess where he is on the rungs of the top point guard in the NBA, and top players overall.

Do you think Jonas Valanciunas’ presence would change the series at all?