The Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat provided NBA fans with a great seven-game series in the second round of the playoffs, with the Canadian squad advancing to face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Although the series was full of seven grinding games, it was missing something that makes basketball especially beautiful: assists.
Both teams focused on isolation play with their big-name players, particularly Dwyane Wade – who had a phenomenal playoffs for Miami – as well as Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan for Toronto. That resulted in a paltry 28.4 combined assists per game in the series, 14.8 for the Raptors and 13.6 for the Heat.
The last time a playoff series had such low assist numbers was the all-Texas 2006 Western Conference Finals. In that seven-game series, the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks combined for only 26.7 assists per game.
If history is any indication, then the low assist numbers are a concern for the Raptors as they go into a series against an already heavily favored Cavs team. After the Mavs won their 2006 series for a berth in the NBA Finals, they fell to the Heat in six games.
The Eastern Conference Finals begin Tuesday in Cleveland.
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