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Eastern Conf. Semis - Game 4: Toronto Raptors 93-128 Cleveland Cavaliers - 5 Talking Points

Toronto Raptors v Cleveland Cavaliers - Game Four
LeBron James

There was talk about the new Raptors possibly knocking off the King. He put those talks to rest with ease. The Cleveland Cavaliers advanced to their 4th straight Eastern Conference Finals with a crushing 128-93 win over the Toronto Raptors as they swept them for the 2nd year in a row.

LeBron James finished with 29 points, 11 assists, and 8 rebounds while Kevin Love chipped in with 23 points. Jonas Valanciunas led the Raptors with 18 points as they came up short yet again. Here are the talking points:


#5 The Raptors bench delivers, the starters do not

Toronto Raptors v Cleveland Cavaliers - Game Four
Kevin Love and Jonas Valanciunas

A lot of talk on why this Raptors team is different from the ones in past years was their bench. One of the best bench units in the league, they showed up for this elimination game, contributing towards 48 of the 93 Raptors points which is remarkable on their part. On the flip side, this means the starters only had 45, which is pretty pathetic

Valanciunas led the whole team off the bench with 18 points, in just 15 minutes which begs the question as to why he didn't play more? He's been pretty effective and mostly efficient in this series both as a scorer and rebounder, so why his minutes kept going down is puzzling indeed.

He was by far their best player on the court on both ends in this one and keeping him on the bench while almost everyone else mightily struggled is something I presume Dwane Casey would have to answer about.

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