NBA playoffs: Jalen Rose makes shock claim after Cavs star LeBron James dominates Raptors
TORONTO RAPTORS gave up against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jalen Rose claims.
ESPN
Cleveland swept Toronto 4-0 in their Eastern Conference semi-final series, with James dominating the Raptors once again.
It’s the third season in a row that the Cavaliers have eliminated Toronto in the playoffs.
Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan struggled to impress against James, with the 33-year-old averaging a staggering 34 points in the series.
And ESPN analyst Rose slammed the Raptors following the sweep, claiming Toronto could break up their team and look to trade their star players this off-season.
“Playoff basketball is truly about match-ups,” Rose told ESPN’s Get Up! “The Indiana Pacers are athletic and play hard on defence.
You don’t lose by 30 points in a sweep game when you’re the No 1 seed
“Guess one word we didn’t attribute to them in their series, quitting!
“That’s what we saw from the Toronto Raptors yesterday. You don’t lose by 30 points in a sweep game when you’re the No 1 seed. That just doesn’t happen.
“DeMar didn’t play the end of Game 3 and got ejected at the end of Game 4.
“Serge Ibaka was invisible this series, Kyle Lowry didn’t score in double figures.
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“Of course over the next few weeks I’ll hail ‘The King’ but I’m really disappointed with what I saw from the Raptors.
“Nine of their top ten players are under contract next year. You can make trades and have flexibility but the contracts aren’t desirable to other teams.
“In particular Lowry and Ibaka. DeRozan is your best player so you won’t look to move him.
“You can tell that his relationship with the coach will never be the same again.”
James and Cleveland will face either the Boston Celtics or the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference finals.