Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Toronto Raptors: Can LeBron James & Co. Win Game 6 of 2016 NBA Playoffs at Air Canada Centre? Why It Matters
The Cavaliers vs. Raptors series is returning to Air Canada center tonight - May 27, 2016 - as the 2016 NBA Playoffs and Eastern Conference Finals proceed with Game 6. The game is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET ( 5:30 p.m. PT) and Cleveland can either clinch the series and move up to the Finals or Toronto can force a Game 7 back at Cleveland.
Down 2-3, Toronto is in a win-or-go-home situation and they will certainly be looking to bounce back from the demoralizing Game 5 loss where they lost by the largest margin so far in the series - 38 points.
Derozan and Lowry 'Absent' in Game 5
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DeMar Derozan and Kyle Lowry were limited to scoring 27 points throughout the four quarters, a significant drop from the combined 65 points they scored in Game 4. Bismack Biyombo was also limited by the Cavs in the rebound department as he was only able to grab four rebounds - significantly less than the 40 rebounds he recorded in the previous two games.
The Cavs were simply too much for the Raptors and once again they proved that the Lebron-Love-Irving trio can play at a championship level and do serious damage.
"We gotta come out from the beginning and that starts with the Big 3," James said according to NBA.com. By half time the trio had outscored the Raptors 43-34. James ended with 23 points, Love scored 25 and Irving added 23 points for a combined 71 points, just 7 points less than what the entire Raptors team scored.
Cleveland Dominates the Stats
Cleveland dominated the game in almost every stat possible. They were up 57.1% to 39.1% in FG%, 47.6% to 17.6% in 3FG%, 48 to 27 in total rebounts, 46 to 32 points in the paint. However, the real test now for the Cavs lies in being able to perform at a similar level back in Canada home of the arguably noisiest and highest spirited fan-base in the league.
Cleveland's Fate Set If They Can't Win Away Games?
Without being able to win games in the road in this series, Cleveland may still clinch the Eastern Conference bracket with a win but things may still look pretty grim for them to beat the Western Conference finalist for the Larry O'Brien trophy. Both Warriors and Thunder have proven their play to be successful in away games -Warriors 34-7 record in road games;Thunder beat Spurs and Warriors in away games - but the Cavs may just be very fortunate to have uncovered a significant flaw in their play at this time. They still have some time to make necessary adjustments in their away games and watch a lot of film. However, without home-court advantage the Cavs' fate for this year may already be sealed if they can't prove to themselves that they can get a win away from the Quicken Loans arena in this series.
While they may beat the Raptors in Game 7 and advance this game will be provide a very good idea to the damage they may possibly do against either the Warriors or the Thunder in games away from home given the beat the Raptors of course.
TV Info and Live Streaming
The game will be broadcast by ESPN and you can watch the live stream by clicking here.
