Cavaliers: The Guard/Wing Matchup Against Toronto

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors kick off the Eastern Conference Finals tonight. Part one of my preview.

To the surprise of some the Raptors, who were vying for the top seed in the conference for most of the year, made it to meet the Cavs. Here’s a look at the matchup between the two teams and what to expect:

DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry form a dangerous duo of takeover players. They will have to outduel Kyrie Irving, reinvented J.R. Smith, and King LeBron James. The lack of space, contributed to by Derozan, will force Lowry into many pull-up threes as he’s a streaky shooter. Irving’s defense won’t really change how Lowry plays his game but DeRozan’s performance will.

Derozan, for his part, can be careless with the ball when it matters most and just in general his production has been up and down lately. Smith can outplay him this series with more of what he’s given in the playoffs thus far in historically blazing three-point shooting and tough, heady defense.

Derozan will have to bottle his frustration if and when he fails to bottle Smith up on defense. J.R. will have to play smart and aggressive defense and try to guard Derozan without fouling too often. Luckily there’s nobody Smith has to guard in the post on the Raptors team at all to expose his lone defensive weakness.

Lowry will get shots at shooting guard when fellow point guard and former San Antonio Spur Cory Joseph is in. Lowry’s defender, no matter what position, must stay in front of Lowry to contest threes and change the angles he can attack from to present him with tough decisions on his drives by funneling him towards rim defenders and using stunts to force kick-outs. He might just miss a difficult lay-in or kick it out to a three-point shooter, the two best options for the Cavs.

If the Raptors go small, at small forward, Derozan will have problems guarding LeBron in the post and from the perimeter. LeBron will thrive in transition and play bully-ball by driving to the rim aggressively from the perimeter all series long.

LeBron for his part can let Derozan shoot the three but not the pull-up long two. While not a good shot for most players, it is for him and LeBron must contest it. Derozan, to me, plays like a less savvy Dwyane Wade with his aggression headed towards the rim and love of pulling up for the long two. LeBron’s athleticism and defensive focus will be tested as he defends Derozan and takes the challenge to guard the team’s best wing player.

With less of an offensive burden now, he should play up to the defensive challenge.

Irving and Smith and will look to keep up their hot shooting from three to make it easier for their team. The Cavaliers will have plenty of open looks. One of the reasons the Heat lost is because of their dearth of three-point shooting. I don’t necessarily expect Irving and Smith to keep making half of their volume shots from the three but the Cavs have ten other players that can shoot the three well.

DeMarre Carroll plays defense as well as you can against LeBron and he’s been finding his shooting stroke lately. But since LeBron’s usage is down, Carroll playing effective defense could play less of a factor than most would think. Carroll is a hustle player, a grit and grind type guy that would make Memphis Grizzlies fans proud. He can hit the three which is why he thought he should have stayed over Paul Millsap of the Atlanta Hawks.

Carroll isn’t a boneheaded player by any stretch of the imagination, but LeBron will take over the game with his high basketball IQ. This means setting his teammates up with assists, and providing the Cavaliers with timely, efficient, and aggressive scoring from everywhere on the court. Hopefully James finds consistent success from the three but, because of his teammates, it really doesn’t matter.

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What does matter, is Lowry’s no-so-subtle slight against LeBron. I expect LeBron to not-so-subtly show him who’s the best player in the game. Because while Stephen Curry is sensational as a two-way player, his early coronation as new king reminds me of Kevin Durant‘s after his Finals appearance and Anthony Davis after last year. I expect LeBron’s all-around game to be on display and the game of the royal commander of the Cavaliers to be as underrated as ever. A little new blood and the best basketball goes unnoticed, sheesh.

Iman Shumpert is the backcourt player to watch from the bench. Shumpert will be asked to guard starters Lowry and Derozan. Cory Joseph reminds me of Dellavedova with how he contests shots on defense and steps up for big-time moments, the high-flying Terrence Ross knows how to score, and rookie Norman Powell has been able to step up this season, especially shooting the three, and play significant minutes. Shumpert will have to guard them too.

Do you think the guard/wing matchup favors the Raptors or Cavs?