Cleveland Cavaliers still own the Toronto Raptors

The Cleveland Cavaliers dominated the Toronto Raptors in Game 2, 128-110. After another big win against the North, is this series already over?

The complete and utter domination in the city of Toronto continues by the Cleveland Cavaliers— or as Mark Jones of ESPN called it, “LeBronto.”

After blowing a 14-point lead to the Cavs in Game 1 in overtime, the Toronto Raptors still came out strong in Game 2. They made it competitive and even went up nine, but turnovers, missed shots and iso-ball led to their downfall and the Cavs took over.

Most NBA fans could tell the Raptors had an overwhelming defeated feeling within the team. As soon as they miss shots or the Cavs take the lead, they seem to check it out.

An early sign of them being defeated was during the last few seconds of overtime in Game 1.

After Jonas Valancuinas missed numerous layups in a row, and the controversial Kevin Love        no-call flagrant foul, the cameras went over to the Raptors bench. NBA fans could see a sulking Kyle Lowry.

There was still 1:11 left in the game and he already looked beaten.

The same can be said about DeMar DeRozan during the postgame press conference. He was saying all the right things in order to keep himself and the team motivated, but deep down, he knew they needed Game 1 to set the tempo — and they failed.

The Cavaliers played terrible for the first half of Game 1. Once again, it was LeBron James against everybody. Kevin Love continued to struggle, and the rest of team couldn’t make open shots. It was the “same old Cavs” team that struggled against the Indiana Pacers in Round 1.

However, they slowly started to inch their way back into the game, and the rest is history. The Cavaliers won the game by one point.

While they stole Game 1, they completely dominated Game 2.

Love was aggressive from beginning to end. He finally realized that Valanciunas wasn’t going to come out to the wing to guard him like Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis did last round. He played his best game of the playoffs, finishing with 31 points, 11 rebounds and a block.

Yes, you read that correctly, he had a block.

J.R. Smith played a great all-around game, going 2-for-3 from 3-point range, and taking open shots instead of making indecisive passes. He played good defense on DeRozan and Lowry for most of the game.

Jeff Green added 15 points from the bench, going 4-for-6 from long-range. This was the best game he’s also played during the postseason thus far. Most Cavs fans would prefer he didn’t shoot the ball, but if he’s making them, let him go for the open opportunities.

But the most impressive thing this game, and pretty much every game for the Cavs, was LeBron James.

He truly might be the best player to ever play in the NBA — championships aside.

James singlehandedly fade-away shot the Cavaliers to victory in the third and fourth quarters of Game 2. He even shot a rainbow fade reminiscent of Kobe Bryant circa 2010.

He was unstoppable as usual.

James is doing things at 33 years of age that even some of the past NBA greats couldn’t do in their primes. He finished the game just short of another triple-double with 43 points, 14 assists and eight rebounds.

He finally got consistent contributions from his teammates. It was a struggle last round due to the Pacers being a bad matchup, but the Raptors match up well for the Cavaliers — and it’s been this way for years.

James set another record with the win on Thursday. He surpassed Michael Jordan for the most 30-point, 10-assist games in NBA playoff history with 16.  He’s likely to crush his own record by the end of the postseason.

That wasn’t even the most impressive showing of the night, as the Cavaliers finished the game with only three turnovers. According to NBCSports.com, the Cavaliers tied the Memphis Grizzlies in 2015 with the lowest turnover margin in postseason history.

Something else that stood out during the game was the coaching for the Cavaliers. Most know how I feel about Tyronn Lue, but this time was actually different.

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It was the first time Lue was seen taking advice from Larry Drew and potentially applying it. He wasn’t just sitting there with that glassy-eyed look he has on his face.

Players were cutting, ball movement was crisp, and the team was hounding the Raptors defensivey all game long. It might be the Drew effect or maybe Lue finally practiced what he preaches on both ends of the floor.

The series now shifts back to Cleveland in Quicken Loans Arena. It is doubtful, but not out of the question for the Raptors to steal a game and try to regain home-court advantage.

It all depends on how they come out for Game 3. They’re already a beaten down, defeated team. It’s all in their body language.

If Toronto comes out strong, it could have a chance. But if the Cavaliers come out in front of the home crowd, and hit a couple of shots and get James going early on, it could be a sweep. Most had the series going for six or seven games, but that’s definitely changed after the last two performances by the Raptors.

Next: Full two-round 2018 NBA Mock Draft

The black playoff cloud continues to hover over that franchise, and until they can beat the Cavs in a seven-game series, I don’t see the sun coming back out in Toronto anytime soon.