CLEVELAND: A week off.
An opponent hungry for revenge from last year’s conference finals.
Troublesome shooting by Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in the first round and a defense that plays well only in bursts.
Even with the Toronto Raptors’ now 1-12 record in the first game of a playoff series, there were concerns as the Cavaliers and Raptors squared off in the opener of the Eastern Conference semifinals Monday night at Quicken Loans Arena.
All of those worries seemed unfounded as the Cavs surged to an 18-point lead early in the second quarter. Their dazzling display included an Irving alley-oop off the backboard that LeBron James slammed home with his left hand and a monstrous Iman Shumpert dunk over Serge Ibaka that seemed years in the making.