After spending last round going scorched earth from long range on the Atlanta Hawks, everyone began re-labeling the Cleveland Cavaliers. Suddenly, the Cavs were being referred to as a “three-point” team, one which focused solely on beating you from beyond the arc. It really wasn’t too surprising, especially since Cleveland drained a record amount of threes while running the Hawks out of the gym in four games.

At the same time, LeBron James was having none of it. In fact, whenever anyone asked him about the Cavs becoming strictly a three-point shooting team, he would get a little miffed. It seemed to be less about the success Cleveland was having from distance and more about it being pigeon-holed to one style of basketball.

Whatever the matter, James seemed intent to convince everyone the Cavs were much more multi-faceted. Consider last night’s Eastern Conference Finals opener against the Toronto Raptors as Exhibit A.

Hoping to cool Cleveland from long range, the Raptors schemed their defense around not leaving shooters open. They soon found out that the Cavs are just way too balanced for that to work.

It was understandable for Toronto to focus on stopping the three-point barrage. Atlanta had no answer for it, and the Raptors certainly didn’t want to meet the same fate. So, coach Dwane Casey made sure his players stayed with their respective man, not trying to trap or send help defense.

On paper, the idea might’ve sounded pretty smart. On the court, Cleveland turned it into a layup line en route to a 115-84 blowout.

You could tell that, as soon as James and Kyrie Irving realized nobody was coming to help against them on their drives, the Cavs were getting ready to just pour it on. Despite Kevin Love drifting out to the corner, his man stayed with him instead of shifting towards the paint whenever another Cav was driving. As a result, Cleveland outscored the Raptors in the paint 56-36.

All in all, James was right. This is not a team built solely on three-point shooting. Instead, the Cavs are a team which essentially forces their opponent to pick their poison.

In James and Irving, Cleveland has players who can drive no matter who you throw at them. If you choose to try and double-team or send help, a variety of three-point shooters will be waiting for the kick-out pass. Change your focus back to guarding the arc, James and Irving will have no trouble beating the one-on-one coverage.

This multi-faceted approach is about as impossible to guard as it gets. Toronto simply can’t focus its game-plan on which approach from the Cavs offense it wants to try and stop. Instead, the Raptors have decide which facet of Cleveland’s attack they’re comfortable being beaten by. They can hope the Cavs run into a cold night from behind the arc, or that Irving and James can’t hit their layups. Right now, that’s about it.

Based on the results we’ve seen so far in the postseason, neither of those things will be happening any time soon. The Raptors are dealing with a choose-your-own-adventure situation, and each path leads to an offensive explosion for Cleveland.