Rogers' 10* Coach's Clinic >> SIZZLING 106-60-5 L171 NBA Sides! 6-1 Last 7!
(NBA) Toronto vs. Cleveland,
Point Spread: 8.00 | -115.00 Toronto (Away)
Result: Loss
The set-up: The Cleveland Cavaliers played very poor team defense in going 10-14 from March 1 through the end of the regular season but the team's answer to that come the playoffs has been...Outscore its opponents. The Cavs have averaged 113.4 PPG in winning their first five playoff games, scoring a low of 106 and high of 119. Second-seeded Cleveland made it a four-game sweep of the Indiana Pacers in the opening round and built a 12-point lead after one quarter against the Raptors, then took a 22-point lead into the 4th quarter in cruising past the Raptors 116-105 on Monday. Cleveland knocked off the Raptors in last season's Eastern Conference finals when its four victories were by an average of 28.5 points and Toronto players know they need to prevent a landslide. "We've just got to play defense and not let them go up and down and do what they do, play defense for 48 minutes," Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry told reporters after Game 1. "We got to find ways to limit their spurts."

Toronto: The Raptors could tinker with the lineup by going back to guard Norman Powell instead of center Jonas Valanciunas, which was how they won the last three games of their first-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks. However, Powell may have had 12 points in Game 1 off the bench, but shot just 3 of 11. Or they could swap P.J. Tucker with DeMarre Carroll. Tucker had 13 points and 11 boards off the bench Monday. DeRozan and Lowry were fairly quiet (combined 39 points) but the bottom line is, the team must shoot better than 43.8% from the floor, including only 10 of 26 on threes.

Cleveland: LBJ had 35 points and 10 rebounds in the opener and needs just 25 points to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (5,762 points) for second place on the all-time postseason scoring list. He also has 88 career 30-point outings in the postseason, matching Kobe Bryant for second place on the all-time list. The records just keep falling. PG Kyrie Irving had 24 points and a career playoff-best 10 assists in Game 1 plus center Tristan Thompson collected 14 rebounds to raise his playoff average to 11.6 and he has reached double digits in all five of Cleveland's playoff games.

The pick: Will the Cleveland 'express' just keep rolling? Losing Game 1 of a playoff series is hardly new for Toronto, as the Raptors now own a 1-12 record all time in those contests. History doesn't exactly bode well here either, as they are 1-5 in Game 2s on the road in postseason play. However, maybe Toronto can gain some measure of hope in noting that In their five playoff losses to Cleveland dating back to last year's conference finals, Game 1 on Monday was the closest. If the Raptors want any chance in this series, a win tonight is almost a must. Take the points and make Toronto a 10*.