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11/22/2024 07:28:53 am

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NBA Eastern Conference Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers Versus Toronto Raptors Game 1 Preview

lebron james

(Photo : gettyimages.com) LeBron James is expected to lead the Cavaliers against the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will play host to the Toronto Raptors for the Game One of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals series on Tuesday. This will be the first of the two consecutive games to be played at the Quicken Loans Arena before the series shifts over to Toronto for Games Three and Four.

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Being the defending champions of the conference, the Cavaliers have the advantage of experience over the Raptors. The Cavs have won two conference titles (in 2007 and 2015) while this is the Raptors' first appearance in the finals.

Cleveland swept all their opponents from the opening round to the semifinal stage and have not lost since the postseason started.  Toronto won all their seven games in the series, which can make the fatigue factor an edge, but LeBron James somehow disagrees.

"It's not an advantage," James said. "They're here for a reason. You got to go out and play. They also played two seven-game series and we didn't. So they can have the upper edge on that. So, there's no advantage to either team. Both teams are 0-0 and it's the first to four."

The Wine and Gold became the first club in the history of the NBA to make at least 15 three-pointers in four straight games after doing so in each game of the Semifinals. Cleveland has connected at least 20 treys on three different occasions in the ongoing 2016 NBA Playoffs, including an NBA-record 25 triples in Game Two of their Second-Round series against the Atlanta Hawks on May 4.

Cleveland's outside shooting has been flourishing, having several players shooting above .400 from beyond the arc this postseason.

"That's going to be the issue," Raptors Head Coach Dwane Casy said. "They're such a great transition team, such a great penetrate, pick-and-roll team that you try to stop everything and you don't stop anything. We have to pick our poison. They're very lethal."

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