Fred VanVleet: Raptors Bench Underperformed 'When It Mattered Most' in Playoffs
Toronto Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet admitted Tuesday that the team's "bench mob" failed to produce during the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Seerat Sohi of SB Nation provided comments from VanVleet after the Cavs closed out the series Monday night with a 128-93 victory to complete the sweep of Toronto.
"We pretty much shredded every bench in the NBA in the regular season and we just didn't get it done in the playoffs," he said. "Kinda true to our team in terms of underperforming when it mattered the most."
The Toronto bench led the NBA in efficiency for the 2017-18 campaign, per Hoops Stats.
That didn't matter against Cleveland, as LeBron James and Co. bounced back from a narrow seven-game escape against the Indiana Pacers in Round 1 to end Toronto's season.
It makes the third consecutive season the Raptors have been eliminated by Cleveland, and the second straight time via sweep.
VanVleet had a particularity tough series. He shot just 35.5 percent from the field and 31.8 percent from three-point range. Those numbers were 42.6 percent and 41.4 percent in the regular season.
C.J. Miles was the only member of the Raptors' top reserves to play consistently well in the series. He averaged 10.0 points on 48.4 percent shooting.
Toronto's bench had a minus-8.4 net rating in the conference semifinals, per NBA.com. It ranked last among the eight semifinalist reserve units in pace and seventh in rebound percentage.
The end result was not enough support for Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, and another early exit for Toronto despite finishing as the East's top seed at 59-23.
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