Brian Windhorst thinks Toronto could put up a fight in the series

Brian Windhorst has seen this scene play out over and over again in the playoffs: a losing team attributes their loss to the winning team coming out more aggressive, and the winning team attributing their win to being more aggressive. 

It sounds trite, but Windhorst warned the Cavs against sleepwalking into Game 1 (thanks to raptortruther for sharing the video in the comments).

“I am promising you the Raptors will start Game 1 aggressive. This is the way that they are coached,” he said to Chris Oldach on ESPN Cleveland. “Their coach is a low-level maniac. Darko Rajakovic got to this job by challenging players and firing up players. I promise you he will have that team ready.”

Windhorst was referring to the Raptors’ aggressive defensive style that has come to define their identity. 

“Part of winning this series with the Raptors is … they need to use their energy to overcome what is a personnel shortcoming in this series. The Cavs have better personnel.” Windhorst doesn’t necessarily think that the Raptors will win, but he was just being explicit about not knowing what to expect at all.

“I just don’t know how it’s all going to come together. I really don’t,” he said about the Cavs. “They’re very inconsistent defensively. They do not have good rhythm at all.” He foresees the Raptors’ fast pace and a 1 pm Saturday matinee game potentially throwing the Cavs off their non-existent rhythm.

“I’ve got a high degree of variance the way this Cavs season could go. I don’t know. So I guess get your popcorn,” he said. Windhorst thinks there’s a high chance the Raptors tie this series 1-1 before they return to Toronto.

Let’s hope Windy’s right.

The post Brian Windhorst thinks Toronto could put up a fight in the series first appeared on Raptors Republic.