INDEPENDENCE: LeBron James didn’t get his wish, but Toronto Raptors fans did.
Near the end of the Raptors’ 116-89 mauling of the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday, Raptors fans filled Air Canada Centre with chants of “We want Cleveland.”
Now they’re going to get them — along with a focused James, whose laughs and smiles during the week off were replaced Sunday night with a serious tone and few words. Asked when he flipped the switch, James responded, “114-86 at one point. When I walked in here. That’s when I flipped the switch.”
James conceded during the Cavaliers’ series against the Atlanta Hawks he would’ve liked to face old friend Dwyane Wade and the Heat in the conference finals, a comment Raptors coach Dwane Casey quickly latched onto as disrespectful.
“Nobody respects us. Everybody has written us off and that’s fine,” Casey said upon hearing James’ remark. “Hopefully our guys take that to heart and take offense to it.”
This is the Raptors’ first appearance in the conference finals after they were pushed to seven games in each of their first two series. The Cavs, meanwhile, have swept through the first two rounds and will have eight full days off between games. By the time they start again on Tuesday, the Cavs will have played just eight games in their last 33 days.
“Anytime you get an opportunity to get some rest throughout the course of our season, it’s always beneficial for anybody,” James said. “Doesn’t matter if you’re a 31-year-old guy who’s played a lot of basketball or you’re a 19-year-old kid who just came into the league. You get a couple days in the postseason, there’s a benefit.”
The Raptors won two of three meetings against the Cavs during the regular season with the home team winning every time. Both Cavs coach Tyronn Lue and guard Kyrie Irving dismissed any significance of the regular season on this series. After all, the Pistons took three of four from the Cavs during the regular season before they were swept out of the first round.
Players gathered at the Cleveland Clinic Courts on Sunday to watch the Raptors and Heat, then met with the media before watching film and holding a rare night practice. Irving said Sunday went how he thought it would.
“Pretty much what I expected,” he said. “The Game sevens I’ve been watching, it’s either one way or the other, one team kind of blows out the other team or it’s kind of close.”
The Raptors likely will still be without center Jonas Valanciunas when the series opens Tuesday at Quicken Loans Arena. Valanciunas sprained his ankle during Game 3 and missed the last four games against the Heat. Casey said on Saturday Valanciunas was “nowhere close to being ready to play.”
The Raptors’ real threat, however, remains their All-Star backcourt of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. Lowry scored a career-high 43 points against the Cavs in the Raptors’ late February victory at Air Canada Centre.
Both Lowry and DeRozan have struggled badly at times during this postseason, although they combined for 63 points in Sunday’s win to eliminate the Heat.
“They’re two All-Stars for a reason. And that’s the reason that they’re in the Eastern Conference finals because they’re two All-Stars,” James said. “They’re All-Stars for a reason. They wouldn’t be in this position without them.”
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.