The Cleveland Cavaliers now have a clear pathway to finishing their playoff series against the Toronto Raptors in five games.
A key to making a deep run in the NBA playoffs is finishing off early opponents quickly, allowing your players to recuperate and replenish their energy levels before the next series. It's not the only key, of course, but it absolutely helps.
The Cavaliers are now in position to end things early against the Raptors with the news that Toronto's starting point guard, Immanuel Quickley, will miss the rest of this series after reinjuring his right hamstring trying to get back onto the court.
Immanuel Quickley is out for the series
Quickley has not played a minute for the Raptors thus far in the playoffs, and it has shown. The Cavaliers, hardly a lockdown defensive unit during the regular season, have completely smothered the Raptors in two of their three games.
After hurting his hamstring in the final game of the regular season, Quickley showed up on the injury report as "questionable" heading into Game 1. He stayed "questionable" before games two and three, which seemed fishy -- if he was truly 50/50 to play in Game 1, why wouldn't he be ready days later?
The answer has now been revealed, if vaguely: Quickley suffered a reinjury to the same hamstring, and this will keep him out for weeks, not days. It gives the Raptors and head coach Darko Rajakovic somnething definitive to make their gameplan without Quickley. Toronto found something that worked in Game 3 and will hope to continue that success in Game 4.
Cleveland should try to end the series quickly
It would behoove the Cavaliers to not allow that to happen. The Detroit Pistons are down 2-1 to the Orlando Magic and are playing behind the Cavs in the schedule, so whether Detroit claws back to win or the Magic do in fact pull off the upset, they will be playing for many days yet.
If Cleveland can end things quickly against a short-handed Toronto team, that will set them up to be at their best for the second round. And from there, the potency of their offense could take advantage of the high-variance Boston Celtics or the vulnerable New York Knicks. No team is out of it in the wide-open Eastern Conference.
Overlooking the talented players on the Raptors would be a mistake, of course. Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett had tremendous performances in Game 3, and Brandon Ingram could remember that he made the All-Star team and start playing like it at any time. But overall, the Cavaliers are more talented, deeper and have more experience. That should give them the advantage they need.
And if they can win this series in five games, they will be done playing by Wednesday and able to rest up. The Raptors being down their starting point will only help Cleveland with their long-term goals.
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