Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 takeaways from Game 4 vs. Raptors

2. The other Cavaliers step up

After getting off to a spectacular start in their previous outing, the Cavs’ offense found a way to catch fire in the early going once again, with the help of three particular players outside of King James in the opening quarter.

In spite of being held scoreless on just two shots in Game 3, J.R. Smith put together a perfect shooting display, scoring 16 points on 6-for-6 shooting from the field.

Kyle Korver and George Hill also found opportunities on the offensive end by taking advantage of screens and backdoor cuts on the way to scoring chances with the help of James, who sought to play the role of facilitator and feed his teammates consistently throughout the first half.

In Game 4 against Toronto, Korver and Hill combined to score 28 points on 11-for-16 shooting from the floor. The entire starting five scored 95 points on 68.6 percent shooting in three quarters of work.

"“From Game 1, they were wonderful,” James said about his fellow teammates following the game. “I was horrible in Game 1 and they picked it up for me. So I tried to follow their lead going into Game 2 and all the way through Game 4.”"

While most non-basketball observers might only refer to LeBron’s cast mates as just the other Cavaliers, the three starters alongside James and Love put together their best offensive performance of the season Monday night in Cleveland. That made it a tough night for the Raptors, who were scrambling left and right defensively in the effort to stop a red-hot Cavs squad.

Should Cleveland’s role players carry this trend into the next round, then it could spell serious trouble for their next opponent in the Eastern Conference Finals. Shooting the ball at such a high clip will help to open up driving lanes for the likes of James and others to create clean looks the rest of the way.