4. The Dynamic Duo vs the Big Three?
The backcourt of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan is right up there with the best duos in the league.
In terms of starting backcourts, there are only two that come to mind that can rival Toronto’s.
The first is the obvious answer, the Golden State Warriors with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. It’s hard to argue that there is a better backcourt in the league.
The next is a somewhat-under-the-radar team that has been scorching hot recently, the Portland Trail Blazers with Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum.
The Blazers’ backcourt averages a combined 46 points per game. Toronto’s duo averages 44.5. However, the fact that Toronto is 38-18 and Portland is only two games above .500 would suggest that Toronto is a better team and although some of that has to do with depth, it would be reasonable to say Lowry and DeRozan get more results than Lillard and McCollum.
It’s an interesting argument to have, but I would put the Raptors backcourt as second-best in the league.
In terms of scoring duos, regardless of position, it’s clear Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are the best duo, but Toronto is not far down the list from them.
While the Cavs have LeBron James and Irving, the Kevin Love factor makes this matchup between Cleveland and Toronto, the Big Three vs the Dynamic Duo.
LeBron, Irving, and Love vs Lowry and DeRozan.
It’s worth noting that Toronto had two All-Stars this season. The Cavs had one. Obviously, Irving’s injury was the main factor for that, and Love may have been snubbed undeservedly, but Lowry and DeRozan both deserved spots without question.
For casual fans, who don’t know the role players on either teams, this will be the general outline of the game.
There has been some criticism of the chemistry within the Cavs’ Big Three. We don’t see all three guys playing at high levels on the same night on a consistent basis. For the most part, it’s LeBron and Kyrie scoring at least 20 a night. Most of those games, Love is somewhere between 10-15 points.
Once in a while, LeBron and Love lead the way in scoring, and Kyrie has an off-night. There was even a rare performance Monday night against Detroit, in which Love and Kyrie led the way, but LeBron had a poor shooting night.
Many fans have been waiting to see the Cavs’ Big Three all clicking on the same page for over a season and a half. It does happen from time to time, but not consistently. There is a solid argument to make that J.R. Smith plays better with Irving and James than Love does, but that’s a topic for another day.
What Toronto appears to have is steady contributions and great chemistry. Their talent level obviously is not as stacked as Cleveland’s. But they do have two of the best players at their positions in point guard and shooting guard, and a solid supporting cast.
Maybe the X-factors of a game or even a series between Toronto and Cleveland would be the role players, like Smith, Tristan Thompson, Iman Shumpert, Matthew Dellavedova, and Timofey Mozgov for Cleveland, and Valanciunas, Luis Scola, Bismack Biyombo, Terrence Ross, DeMarre Carroll , and Corey Joseph for the Raptors.
Those players may not get the national attention, but those who watch the teams on a regular basis know how big of an impact they make. The Raptors are not just Lowry and DeRozan. The Cavs are not just “The Big Three.”
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