CLEVELAND: Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson was admittedly ticked off with his play of late.
Thompson has been matched up on surging Toronto Raptors center Bismack Biyombo in the NBA Eastern Conference finals. Raptors coach Dwane Casey called on the 6-foot-9 center to fill the shoes of injured Jonas Valanciunas. Although he didn’t provide a sterling effort in the first two games, in the second two, Biyombo was golden, collecting 40 rebounds, including 11 on the offensive end.
“Any time in the series, at the end of the day it’s about wins and losses, but at the same time, in the course of a game, you’ve got to take care of your matchup,” Thompson said after Wednesday’s morning shoot-around. “He’s been playing well, he’s been very active, his energy has been high and he’s giving their team an extra boost — especially their last two games at home. So, I’ve just got to match that intensity. We’re home now. This is our floor. I’ve just got to bring the juice. It’s simple. Not much to say.”
Thompson, a Toronto native, has the support of coach Tyronn Lue, but even Lue acknowledged that Thompson has to step it up.
“Tristan has to be who he’s been for us all year. He’s been active on the offensive glass. Defensively he’s been great,” Lue said. “Biyombo was clogging up the paint, trying to block shots and get back to Tristan and doing a good job of getting a body into Tristan when he tries to go to the offensive glass.”
But there was plenty more on Thompson’s mind when it comes to Biyombo. In Game 3, Biyombo had 26 of those rebounds (eight offensive).
“That’s a big-time stat right there, so, of course, [the media] are going to write about it and talk about it, but you gotta give the kid credit,” he said. “ He was relentless on the glass. He was getting all of the defensive rebounds for their team and he was getting offensive rebounds. For me, of course, it p***** me off because we lost, right? That’s what matters at the end of the day. I was p***** off at the fact that we lost, so it was just a little extra motivation, but I’m not worried about it. We’re on Game 5 now. That was last weekend. I’m about [Wednesday] and what we have to do to win.”
And what is that exactly?
“I think we did a better job in Game 4 of neutralizing his offensive rebounds. Defensive rebounds, he’s done a great job just cleaning our misses up,” forward LeBron James said of Biyombo. “But we had a better game plan for him in Game 4, which was handled pretty well. He’s a big piece of their team from the defensive side, and also getting them extra possessions, so our bigs and also our guards will have to do a better job of just taking account for him.”
The other big man
Despite being cleared to play in Game 4, Valanciunas did not get in the game. He hadn’t played since injuring his ankle against the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Casey said that the big man wasn’t on any type of restriction related to his ankle, and he entered Game 5 with 6:05 to go in the first quarter.
“It’s very difficult after a young man has been out for two weeks or however long he’s been out, to come in and be in a role with the speed of the game, the intensity of the game,” Casey said. “The type of game that Bismack [Biyombo] has had the second, third and fourth game, it’s very difficult to supplant him.”
Under pressure?
Despite losing two games in Toronto, the Cavs’ first two postseason losses, James said the team shouldn’t press.
“I think we just need to play our game. We need to be a little bit more urgent defensively to start the game,” he said. “They’ve played us really well through four games in the first quarter and in the third quarter, some of the games. And we haven’t started out the games how we would like to, so we’ve got to do a better job of that.”
The Raptors’ Casey doesn’t buy it either.
“It’s a series and it’s not really a series until a team wins on the other team’s court. Both of us have protected home and that’s all that’s happened,” Casey said. “There’s not added pressure on anybody. I think it’s a tremendous series with two great competitive teams. They did what they were supposed to do here. We did what we were supposed to do at our place.”
Picking it up
The Cavs have played better when pushing the pace against the Raptors. They looked to return to that in Game 5.
“We know that when we play with pace and when we run and we get fast-break points, we’ve been a very good team,” James said. “It’s a huge ingredient to our team, and we have to implement that in Game 5.”
The Cavs wasted no time doing just that, racing to an early 17-7 lead and cruising to a 65-34 halftime advantage.
Dribbles
LeBron James overtook Magic Johnson in playoff game appearances to secure the No. 12 slot with 191. ... James made one free throw and tied Los Angeles Lakers great Kobe Bryant (1,320) for No. 2 in most career postseason free throws made. ... Forward Channing Frye has scored 10 or more points in five of the past seven games.
George M. Thomas can be reached at gmthomas@thebeaconjournal.com.