It was not easy, but on Sunday, the Cleveland Cavaliers were finally able to beat the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 105-101 to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Up next for Cleveland, is a date with the no. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Toronto Raptors.
Cleveland does not get to the second-round without the greatness of LeBron James, who averaged 34.4 ppg, 10.1 rpg, and 7.7 apg in the series against Indiana, including a dominate 45 point performance in Game 7.
The way Cleveland has played against Toronto in the playoffs over the past two years, the Cavaliers should have some confidence coming into this series. Toronto is 2-8 against the Cavs in the playoffs over the last two seasons. However, throw all that away because Cleveland is not the same team, and neither is the Raptors.
Toronto has DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry, and a great bench. Cleveland has LeBron, but unlike previous years, they don’t have much after that.
In the series against the Pacers, LeBron(34.4 ppg) and Kevin Love(11.4 ppg) were the only two players to average in double figures for Cleveland. Despite LeBron’s heroics, the Cavs barely beat the Pacers in 7 games.
In reality, for the first time since LeBron returned to Cleveland, the Raptors are the better team.
Unless LeBron James can get a little help from his teammates, the Cavs will be losing to the Raptors in 6.
If there is any team that could get swept in this series, it might be the Cavs because they just don’t have enough to beat the Raptors this time around.
The Cavs will sweep the Raptors.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) April 29, 2018
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