NBA teams
ESPN.com 7y

Rumor Central: Will Raptors bench Jonas Valanciunas, DeMarre Carroll?

The Cleveland Cavaliers easily beat the Toronto Raptors 116-105 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference playoff series and when Game 2 tips off, head coach Dwane Casey may adjust his starting lineup.

According to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca, a source claims Casey is considering moving Jonas Valanciunas and DeMarre Carroll to the bench, while promoting Jakob Poeltl and Norman Powell into the starting five. Poeltl brings more quickness than Valanciunas to compete with Cleveland's big men and  Powell could add more scoring to the first unit.

On Tuesday, Casey spoke with the media and discussed the need to adapt how the game is played now as his team is averaging just 95.4 points in the 2017 playoffs.

"The league is changing," Casey said. "The league is changing. You have to change or you get stuck in the mud. It’s more of a scoring league now."

Casey added: "We have to score points. We have to manufacture points. ... Not to say defense isn’t important, because it is. But we can’t get caught up in 'we gotta stop them.'"

In the postseason, Valanciunas is averaging 8.9 points and Carroll is scoring 5.7 points per game, while Powell is averaging 12.3 points.

-- Nick Silva

^ Back to Top ^