What happened to Toronto?

After what was a grueling 7 game series for the Cavs to open against the Pacers, Lebron James said he was too tired to even think about the Raptors.  The Cavs had been harried and outside of Lebron carrying the team for 7 games had looked like a team contending for the first overall pick rather than a championship.

So, when the series started against the Raptors, I was confident this was Toronto's year. But after four games, two of them basically non competitive from the Raptors, Lebron and company are heading back to the Eastern Conference finals and now get some much needed rest.  The question is, what happened to the Raptors?  In games 1 and 3 they were actually more efficient shooters than the Cavs, but couldn't win those tight games. 

The biggest issue was overall defensive efficiency.  During the regular season, the Raptors posted a top five DRtg, 103.4.  Against the Cavs though, they got torched to the tune of a 121.5 rating.  That's the worst for any series so far in these playoffs.  While the Raptors were efficient shooters, the Cavs hit just about everything they wanted outside of game one, posting above 60% true shooting rates and high 50s.

It didn't help either that the Raptors pair of All Star caliber guards and Fred Vanfleet were brutalized a bit by the Cavs back court.  Demar and Lowry combined to shoot just 49% this series, with them providing a -24 +/-.  You cant win series when your stars are being out dueled by JR Smith and George Hill. The fact that the Raptors front court also provided -15 as well ended any chance they had to win the series.  

The biggest factor though was in how effective team's were in transition.  The Raptors had 59 attempts when the shot clock was between 18-22 seconds, the fast break area.  They made 34 of those field goals, including 8 threes.  The Cavs however had just 38 attempts, but made 27 of them and hit 7 threes.  If the Raptors had been just a  little more efficient there, this series is a completely different story for them.The Raptors weren't the fastest team in the elague in termsof pace, but the games slowed down in this series, hitting about 90 possessions or so.  That favored the Cavs and Lebron who were coming off a long series.  The Raptors needed to push and hit shots in transition to make the Cavs work, and wear them down even more. 

Overall this is likely the end for this iteration of the Raptors.  They have a lot of holes, especially in the front court where they will need to find some way of getting more production to help Rozen and Lowry.  Its too bad that this was their best chance yet to escape the Cavs, and the couldn't.