Swept: What went wrong with the Raptors and Jazz

Well, that went by quickly.

The Golden State Warriors are now tied at 8-0 in the playoffs with the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers via a 121-95 walloping of the Utah Jazz. Just a day earlier, the Cavaliers hopped on the sweep train first by eliminating the Toronto Raptors, 109-102.

Both feats were possible, but anyone who thought from the very beginning that both teams would be unbeaten on the way to the conference finals is kidding themselves. So what went wrong?

Injuries

Here’s the real playoff killer that no one has control over. Call it the losers’ misfortune or the winners’ stroke of luck, but the contributions of whom the Raptors and Jazz lost on the way was undeniably very much missed.

For Toronto, their star point guard Kyle Lowry went down with an ankle injury right before their home stand Games 3 and 4. He averaged 20 points and 8 assists per game in two semifinal games and carried the load offensively when his star partner DeMar DeRozan had a disappearing act of 5 points in Game 2. This enabled his matchup Kyrie Irving to dance his way to 21.5 points, 6.5 assists, two steals and just one turnover per game while he was gone. As if dealing with LeBron James was a big enough problem, right?

Across the west coast, the freezing lands of Salt Lake City saw the demise of their all-around veteran point guard George Hill, who sat at the sidelines for 3 straight games due to a foot injury.

The loss of the veteran guard who was a starter of the Indiana Pacers squad which took the 2013 champion Miami Heat to 7 games in the East finals was a huge blow to the inexperienced Jazz. With Joe Johnson and one-time champ Boris Diaw being the only players aside from Hill to go deep in the playoffs, the rest of the semifinal newbies struggled to enforce their league-best defense (more on that later) on the overwhelmingly powerful Warriors.

Steph Curry took it upon himself to make the most of Hill’s absence, averaging 25.3 points, 5.7 assists and 9.7 three-point attempts (41% 3PT shooting) during his 3 game absence.

Defensive fallout

As stated earlier, the Jazz had the league-best defense in terms of opponent points per game, fast break defensive rating and opponent three-point attempts per game – all of which are the bread-and-butter weapons of Golden State. However, they fell apart once they actually faced them in the playoffs, placing just sixth out of 16 in opponent PPG, 12th in fast break defense and fifth in opponent three-point attempts per game. Obviously, the loss of Hill was a huge factor in this fallout, as substitute guards such as Shelvin Mack and Dante Exum are nowhere near Hill in terms of defensive prowess.

Meanwhile, for the Raptors, they ranked 11th out of 16 in opponent fast break points and points off turnovers – areas where the star duo of James and Irving dominated. They also placed just eighth in defensive rating and did nothing to help their case on the offensive end – netting a third-worst offensive rating.

It’s also no surprise that the Cavaliers led the league in points off three-pointers at 37.7%, because the Raptors are dead-last in defending from the perimeter – allowing 44.1% of opponent three-pointers to fall. Remember that this is a team who first faced the Milwaukee Bucks, who were already dead last in three-point attempts in the playoffs. The Bucks didn’t shoot the three-ball often, but when they did, the Raptors allowed them anyway.

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For the Cavaliers and Warriors, it’s back to the beach for them as they chill and wait for the 4 other teams who are currently warring like their lives are on the line. For the Raptors and Jazz, it’s back to the beach as well as they try to figure out how to rectify their mistakes.

Extra word of caution to Toronto: Lowry has already opted out of his contract, making him a free agent. The clock is ticking. – Rappler.com