CAVS..............VS................RAPTORS...................
Let's look at LBJ and his Cavs 3 year run and the Raps over the past 3 years along with the best team in East in 2015 ...the 60 win Hawks.
2015...........................................
Cavs- PRI - 3.44......PRII - 52.19
Raps - PRI - 2.37.....PRII - 51.06
Hawks - PRI 4.93.....PRII - 51.4
2016...........................................
Cavs - PRI - 5.34......PRII - 53.85
Raps - PRI - 3.98......PRII - 52.68
2017...........................................
Cavs - PRI - 3.05 .......PRII - 50.87
Raps - PRI - 3.93........PRII - 52.58
This is easily the weakest team LBJ brought into the playoffs and the only time Cavs will have to play a team is better in both PR's then they are.
Hawks were better in PRI but were a very weak rebounding team getting only 47.4 % of rebs, Cavs 50.75%.
Last season Cavs strong on the boards with a 51.8%, this year Cavs 48.9% which puts them in as a weak reb team just like the 2015 Hawks and these type teams do not win NBA titles and rarely even get to the finals.
Raps 50.65%, rebs.
Raps have improved since 2015 and are about the same as last year but have improved in shooting efficiency, the most important part of the game, out-shooting opps by 1.93% compared to Cavs 1.97%, about even there.
Here lies the biggest difference, in 2015 when Cavs had a low rating in both PR's they came into playoffs after the all-star break improving by a whopping 1.92 and .88 in both PR's
Raps declined big time after the break by -1.06, and -1
Hawks a huge decline -1.91, and .73
2016 when Cavs had their best PR's they played about the same before and after the break as did the Raps.
Cavs +.14 and -.09
Raps +.5 and +.03
2017 Cavs come in playing very poor
Cavs declined by -1.25 and -.93
Raps +.58 and +.48
Now we know there has been talk of how LBJ is not the same killer instinct of past great players and may not value the regular season the same way other all-time greats did, even some web sites writing articles on such things.
Hey a trend has develop right ? Don't you see the trend ?
Sometimes trend's develop out of nothing more then pure coincidence, there is no cause and effect to them and in these cases that trend can reverse itself just as quickly as it came.
Of course in this case the cause and effect is LBJ not valuing the regular season.
History does not bode well for teams thinking they can just hit a switch and turn on their A game.
What the Cavs needed to win the title last season was .....Green suspension, Bogurt injury, one of Warriors best rebounders on a very mediocre rebounding team and interior defender, and possible Curry injury that he was not 100%.
And that is the only time LBJ won a finals series playing on the inferior team. He has not beaten the probabilities in his carreer.
When we look at the 1st round in 2015, Cavs beat my lines by 24.44 pts over all 4 games in their 4-0 sweep.
in 2016 by 20 pts
2017 by 8.4 pts
Wow, what a difference between past 2 years, their biggest 1st round win was in 2015 when they came in after the break with a huge improvement, and their smallest 1st round win was when they came in after the break with their largest decline .
See the trend anyone ????
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