Collin Sexton endeared himself to the Cavaliers with his competitive streak
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His jersey number showed them something else: He’s fearless.
Sexton made quite a first impression by deciding to take No. 2, his college number but also the one previously worn in Cleveland by All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving. After showing off his jersey at a news conference Friday, Sexton said he doesn’t feel pressure to live up to Irving’s high standards.
”Not at all,” he said. ”Coming in, I’m going to set goals for myself and then as well there’s going to be team goals set. But I feel like I’m not going to have to live up to anybody’s shoes, but I’m going to come in and learn and be the best player I can be on the court as well as off the court.”
Some Cleveland fans feel No. 2 should be retired. After all, Irving made the biggest shot in franchise history in Game 7 of the 2016 Finals before asking to be traded last summer to escape the daunting shadow cast by LeBron James.
Maybe one day No. 2 will hang in the rafters. For now, it belongs to Sexton.
With an eye toward rebuilding – and maybe persuading James to re-sign this summer – the Cavs selected Sexton, the lightning-quick Alabama point guard, on Thursday night with the No. 8 overall pick. As a freshman, the 19-year-old Sexton carried the Crimson Tide to the NCAA Tournament, for a brief time giving the school’s rabid football fans a late-winter diversion before coach Nick Saban blew his whistle in spring practice.
The Cavs believe Sexton, who earned his ”Young Bull” nickname in high school for his charge-ahead playing style, can help them finally offset the loss of Irving. Without him, Cleveland lacked a dependable second-scoring option for James; the club spent the entire season with a virtual revolving door at the position as coach Tyronn Lue started eight point guards.
Irving’s absence was never felt more than in the Finals as the Golden State Warriors only had to concentrate on James. The Cavs didn’t have another player capable of breaking down their defense.
Sexton gives Cleveland a new weapon.
He’s in good hands. At Alabama, Sexton played for former NBA guard Avery Johnson, and he’s being passed to Cavs coach Tyronn Lue
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”I’ve watched him play,” Lue said. ”I understand who he is as a player and as a person, talked to his parents a lot throughout the course of his college selection, so I know them very well. I’m just excited, man. To be able to have a young talent that I can help mold and build and make better and teach him what suit to wear, what shoes to wear with a suit, how to tie a tie, when you go to dinner, things like that that Bryan Shaw and Robert Horry and Ron Harper and those guys taught me, so I’m very excited about that.”
Sexton wowed the Cavs during his personal workout, which came one day after Cleveland was swept by the Warriors. He attended Game 4, and as he witnessed James, Kevin Durant and others competing at the highest level the game offers, Sexton could imagine one day being part of the action.
”Like the seats were shaking,” he said. ”Fans were screaming. Just I feel like I’ll be ready to play in something like that when it’s my time.”
Sexton smiled throughout his introductory news conference, which came following a nearly sleepless night in New York. And while he came across as easygoing and affable, there’s a darker side to Sexton.
On the floor
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”When you get between those lines, there’s no friends,” he said. ”When you get between those lines it’s us against them, and we’re trying to win. It’s like a switch that cuts on. It’s go time when you get on the court.”
A ”culture reset” carried the Toronto Raptors to the top of the Eastern Conference for the first time this season.
Next, the Raptors will try to hit reset on their playoff history with the Washington Wizards.
After Cleveland swept the Raptors in the second round last spring, team president Masai Ujiri promised to change the culture surrounding the club.
That meant greater emphasis on ball movement and 3-point shooting, something the Raptors were able to execute immediately. Toronto had 67 games with at least 20 assists, up from 34 the previous year, and averaged 33 shots a game from beyond the arc, third most in the NBA.
”We won 59 games,” All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan said. ”I think that speaks for itself. We know what works for us, what got us here, and what’s going to take us even further.”
Thanks to the offensive overhaul, this Raptors team is far removed from the one swept in the first round in 2015, a series in which the Wizards won by an average of 14 points.
”That’s old news, it’s years ago,” All-Star guard Kyle Lowry said. ”We’re a different team
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Raptors coach Dwane Casey said the humiliating sweep helped sow the seeds for Ujiri’s reset.
”That’s one reason why we did change things,” Casey said. ”To give us some other options in the playoffs when teams do try to take away DeMar and Kyle.”
Toronto may have retooled its way to the top of the East, but the Raptors still face a tough first-round test against Washington’s tandem of All-Star guards, John Wall and Bradley Beal.
The speedy Wall averaged 19.4 points and 9.6 assists this season. He would have ranked second in the NBA in assists but was limited to 41 games because of injuries, too few to qualify.
”We’re not going to look at them like they’re the eighth seed because we understand what this team is capable of,” DeRozan said.
Still, the Wizards lost five of their final six games, including defeats to Chicago, Atlanta and Orlando, the three worst teams in the East.
Some other things to watch in the series:
GAME 1 BLUES
The Raptors have lost 10 straight opening games in playoff series, six at home. Toronto has played 13 series in franchise history and won one Game 1, beating Philadelphia in the second round in 2001. ”We’ve lost a lot of Game 1s,” said Lowry, who has been part of the past seven defeats. ”We have to play it like a Game 7.”
WHERE’S WALL?
Toronto and Washington split their four games this season, but Wall missed them all because of injuries. Facing the Wizards with Wall is ”a whole new dynamic
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BENCH MOB
Toronto’s bench averaged 42 points a game this season, tied with San Antonio for fourth most in the NBA. Led by guards Delon Wright and Fred VanVleet, forwards C.J. Miles and Pascal Siakam, and center Jakob Poeltl, Toronto’s bench posted an NBA-best plus-minus of 3.6, easily outpacing second-place Houston (2.3). Casey said he doesn’t want to be bound by traditional basketball thinking in which starters play more and reserves less in the postseason. ”They’re a huge part of who we are,” Casey said. ”We’re going in making sure we try to keep our second unit intact.” VanVleet, however, is questionable for Game 1 because of a bruised right shoulder.
ROSTER REPORT
Toronto F Serge Ibaka left Wednesday’s season finale after being elbowed in the mouth but is expected to start Saturday. … Washington F Otto Porter is questionable for Game 1 because of a strained right calf. He sat out Wednesday. … Wizards F Mike Scott (concussion protocol) could miss Game 1 after being hit in the head Wednesday. … Washington G Jodie Meeks will miss the series after being suspended 25 games Friday for a drug violation. … The Wizards added depth Thursday by signing G Ty Lawson. The 30-year-old Lawson played most recently in the Chinese Basketball Association.
LEBRON LOOMS
The series winner will face Cleveland or Indiana. That likely means a matchup with LeBron, whose team has represented the East in seven straight NBA Finals. James and the Cavs have eliminated Toronto from the playoffs two straight years, including a conference finals defeat in 2016. Toronto is seeded first and had hoped it could steer clear of James & Co. until the conference finals. But Philadelphia’s season-ending 16-game winning streak vaulted the 76ers past Cleveland.
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