CLEVELAND -- Isn’t it funny how a week can change a perspective?
In the immediate aftermath of a Game 7 win over the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs, the Cleveland Cavaliers may not have appreciated what the challenge did for them, but they sure did following a four-game sweep of the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
“The entire Indiana series was big for us,” Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love said.
“Game 7, in the fashion that we won, just getting that experience and heading into Game 1 here, as I mentioned in the locker room, just fighting back from a big deficit, forcing it into overtime, and then, finally taking that first lead in overtime, never really looking back and winning in the fashion that we did in the three games that followed, I think was very telling and a learning experience for our entire team.”
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Above all else, veteran shooting guard Kyle Korver believes the Cavaliers grew mentally from the challenge Indiana gave them and applied those lessons against the Raptors, who entered the postseason as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
“It felt really dramatic, didn’t it?” Korver quipped. “Every game was just…every quarter felt really important, and it was, but I think we learned a lot about ourselves in the series. I think the Pacers made us better. I don’t know if we win the series like this if we didn’t go through that first series, and so, hopefully, we keep on learning our lessons and continue to get better.
“I think it’s more of a mental thing. I think we’re still jelling as a team in some regards. We’re still finding the rotations. We’ve had a lot of lineups, and then, to go through it as a team in the playoffs, it’s just a different story.
“I think guys are trying to find their role and find their spots to kind of be aggressive. Then, just kind of go through high-pressure moments together, as a unit, I think going through that, it just helps us get better.”
And while the Cavaliers admit that they “definitely didn’t see” a sweep coming against the Raptors, not especially after winging it in Game 1 because of the short turnaround between Game 7 against the Pacers and the opening of the Eastern Conference Semifinals in Toronto, they believe significant progress was made in the development of the team over the last week.
“I think we’re getting better,” Korver said. “I think we still have room to improve and things we can be sharper at. We still have some lulls in the game, it feels like where the ball kind of stops and we don’t have that same edge and energy. A lot of that is how we’re approaching the game, so there’s still a lot of room to improve and get better, but the series was a great step in the right direction.”
Small forward LeBron James added, “We want to continue to learn and see where we can be as productive as they can be to help us be successful as a team. It’s still a learning experience for us, and the good thing is, we have another round to continue to learn each other and try to get better.”