Three takeaways from LeBron and the Cavs' last second Game 3 win over the Raptors

Carlan Gay

Three takeaways from LeBron and the Cavs' last second Game 3 win over the Raptors image

LeBron James continues to torment Toronto Raptors fans over and over again. After the Raptors battled back from being down by as many as 17 points to tie the game at 103 late in the fourth quarter.

Then the King broke their hearts again adding to his hall of fame highlight reel - year 15 and he continues to amaze.

The bigger picture for the series is the Raptors will now have to look to do something that no other team has done in NBA history - that's come back from a 3-0 deficit.

For the Raptors who've now lost nine straight playoff games to James and the Cavs, they'll be hoping for just one as Game 4 goes on Monday night.

Here are three takeaways from Cleveland's 105-103 win over the Raptors

LeBron James

O.G. Annouby and Pascal Siakim did as good a job as they possibly could to try and get LeBron off his game. They were far more physical with James in Game 3 and at times it appeared as though they were succeeding in frustrating him. 

But in the end, they were never going to stop the King. James posted a game-high 38 points, six rebounds seven assists and the dagger that has put the Raptors in a 3-0 hole.


James was incredible in the Cavs sweep of the Raptors last season averaging 36 points, 8.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists on 57.3% from the field. In the three games so far this series he's averaging 35.7 points, 11.3 assists, 8.3 rebounds on 53.6% from the field - sometimes greatness is just too great to overcome.

Turnovers

The Raptors finished in the top six of the league in terms of taking care of the ball. They averaged 13.4 turnovers per game on route to their franchise-record 59 wins. In round one against the Washington Wizards, they were sloppy with the ball averaging 14.2 turns per game. The Wizards were never truly able to take advantage of the Raptors misplays and Toronto was able to escape in six games.


Toronto recorded 14 and 11 turnovers in Game 1 and 2 respectively - it didn't necessarily lead to many Cleveland fast break points (2 fast-break points, 11 points off turns), but it never allowed the Raptors to get any flow offensively. 17 turnovers were a series high on Saturday and once again it constantly stalled the Raptors offence and didn't let them get into a great rhythm all evening.

On the other side, the Cavs have only turned the ball over 19 times in three games.

Ball movement, or lack thereof

It was all about pace and space in the regular season for the Raptors, and in both of the first two games, they recorded 26 dimes. They feel back to their old ways in Game 3 only managing to dish out 14 team assists.

They finally had some of their threes fall for them in the fourth quarter, they rebounded well enough to stay within striking distance all game long and even Serge Ibaka showed signs of a return to his regular form. 

But far too often they relied on one-on-one plays and made life for the Cavs easy on defence. Old habits tend to die hard, and in Game 3 for Toronto that was the case.

Carlan Gay