Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 takeaways from Game 1 vs. Raptors

3. Toronto aims to overpower Cleveland

A peek at the Raptors’ roster reveals an obvious advantage; they’re a couple seven-footers taller than Cleveland. Toronto is ready to bludgeon without remorse, counting on the officials to swallow their whistles.

It wasn’t just Jonas Valanciunas, the postman of significance in this series, who treated Cleveland like punching bag. He did erupt in the third, battering the Cavs for 14 points in the quarter. The big man feasted on a buffet of undersized defenders. Jeff Green, Kevin Love and even James were no match for his barbarian-like frame.

Same goes for the entire team; Kyle Lowry stiff arming George Hill out front, Pascal Siakam careening off defenders and DeMar DeRozan pushing through the paint with ease. Yes, physicality plays a role. The Raptors blitzed the Cavs with their bulk.

But all that was compounded by the fact that Cleveland lacks rim protectors. Toronto thrives off dribble-penetration, scoring nearly 50 percent of its points in the paint this season. With players like Lowry, DeRozan and feisty nugget Fred VanVleet, they shredded the Cavs like Swiss cheese, lobbing layups at well. Cleveland lacks a front line to stymie the Raptors’ swift wing players at the rim.

Then there is the way the Raptors defended LeBron. They smothered him after each bucket, his defender zipping to him as if magnetized. They tried to get under his skin, like VanVleet here.

Toronto isn’t looking to finesse its way past Cleveland. The Raptors will play to their strength, literally, and try to muscle their way to the conference finals.