With a little more than five minutes left in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, ESPN color commentator and former NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy, said, "If you're just tuning in, tune out."
His joke might've gone against his employer's business interests, but he definitely had the sensibilities of basketball fans everywhere in mind. You can't say the second-seeded Raptors quit in their 116-78 loss against the Cavaliers Wednesday. That would imply they put forth an effort to win initially. They might as well have forfeited the contest, saved their owners some money on travel expenses and let Cleveland have a 3-2 series lead.
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The top-seeded Cavs led by 18 points after one quarter, a conference finals-record 31 at the half, and 40 after three.
With Game 6 looming Friday night at Air Canada Centre, both teams had better forget what happened at Quicken Loans Arena.
Everything that could've gone right, for the Cavs, did.
Cleveland's Big Three — LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love — played, well, big.
Led by Love (25 points), who was benched in the fourth quarter of Games 3 and 4, the trio nearly equaled Toronto's output by itself on 27-for-44 shooting. James and Irving went for 23 apiece. The Raptors' all-star backcourt, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, couldn't throw a penny in the Cuyahoga River. After going for a combined 67 points in Game 4, they scored just 13 and 14, respectively, going 6 of 20 from the floor.
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The Cavs wisely stopped settling for any and every 3-pointer like they did in two games in Toronto, when then they attempted 82 shots from deep. The formula began to work in the second half of Game 4. Wednesday, they were much more judicious, going 10 for 21 from 3 on their way to shooting 57.1 percent from the field.
Cleveland also did a better job of keeping a body on Raptors big man Bismack Biyombo.
Biyombo followed a 26-rebound performance in Game 3 by snatching 14 in Game 4 to help the Raptors even the series. Biyombo grabbed just four boards in Game 5 and the Cavaliers won the battle of the glass 48-27.
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The home team has dominated in every game this series, and the Raptors, if nothing else, have proved they're resilient this postseason, producing wins after double-digit losses six times.
The Cavs can't let this high get them too high. The Raptors can't let this low get them too low. Toronto will be better in its own building and Cleveland is fully aware of that, and that's why we'll all tune in again Friday.
The best thing about Game 5 is that it's over.