CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Scribbles in my Cleveland Cavaliers notebook the day after their 115-84 victory over the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

1. One of the most interesting comments after the game was by Dwane Casey. The Toronto coach mentioned the "speed of the game ... the quick pace ... and foot speed" being much different than what his team faced in the first two rounds against Miami and Indiana. That's exactly what the Cavs wanted to happen -- play faster. It was a major goal when Tyronn Lue took over at midseason as head coach.

2. The concept of playing faster is not limited to fast breaks. It's about the ball moving quicker from man-to-man. It's about players actually cutting to the basket or moving to different open spots on the court to create spacing. Toronto made a decision to defend the shooters on the 3-point line. Because of the Cavs' excellent spacing and ball movement, that left the middle of the court open. Kyrie Irving and LeBron James drove to the rim, over-and-over-and-over again.

3. "They didn't collapse on us as other teams in the playoffs have," said Lue, meaning Toronto didn't put as many players in front of the rim. The Cavs came into the game making an average of 17 shots from 3-point range in the playoffs. They have been breaking several NBA postseason records for 3-point shooting, so Toronto decided to concentrate its players on defending the 3-pointer.

4. James and Irving loved that strategy. Once they dribbled past the man defending them, there often was a 6-lane interstate right to the rim. James had a playoff career-high of five dunks. He was 11-of-13 shooting and the longest field goal was from 3 feet!

5. Toronto's Casey admitted the strategy of putting so much attention on defending the 3-point shot "opened up a whole can of worms to give them layups" because his defense didn't move fast enough.

6. Toronto was coming off a seven-game series, beating Miami on Sunday. I doubt anything would have changed the outcome, but Casey now sees why Detroit and Atlanta worked so hard to defend the paint -- and allowed the Cavs to take so many 3-pointers. The Cavs were only 7-of-20 from 3-point range in this game.

7. Irving was 11-of-17 shooting, six were layups/dunks. From the moment Lue became the head coach, one of his goals was for Irving "to attack." He didn't want Irving to worry that much about setting up the offense. Get the ball and go to the rim. That's why Irving often plays more like a shooting guard than a point guard.

8. "We're always on Kyrie to be more aggressive," said Lue. "No one can guard him, 1-on-1."

9. James talked about Irving "becoming the player I envisioned ... becoming a leader ... a staple of our team." He said that with Irving sitting next to him, clearly sending a message as he reinforced Irving's growth as a player.

10. According to ESPN, Irving was the worst point guard defender against the pick-and-roll in the NBA's regular season. They have a complicated way of measuring that. Was he the worst? Who knows. But he had major problems defending good point guards. But not Tuesday night, as he held Toronto All-Star Kyle Lowry to eight points, 4-of-14 shooting.

11. Irving praised his teammates for helping him on defense, and they did just that. But when Irving plays the role of a door swinging wide open, the other defenders can't arrive in time. Irving's game-high 27 points were impressive, but that didn't come close to the determined defense that he played against Lowry.

12. Lowry had scored 66 points in his last two games against the Cavs, most of them when defended by Irving. Lowry was 22-of-33 shooting in those games. That's why Irving's performance in the opener is worthy of such high praise. The challenge will be in the next few games because Lowry will attack Irving and try to score.

13. James said "the bench deserves the game ball." He was talking about Channing Frye, Iman Shumpert, Matthew Dellavedova and Richard Jefferson. They opened the second quarter with James, outscoring Toronto 17-4. That moved the lead to 50-32, and the game seemed about over.

14. Guess who was the leading rebounder? It was Jefferson, coming off the bench to grab 11 boards. The entire Toronto team only had 23. The Cavs had a 45-23 rebounding advantage.

15. It's hard to be believe the Raptors are this bad. They were 56-26 in the regular season, winning only one less game than the Cavs. It took them seven games in both rounds of the playoffs, but the Raptors won big games when it meant the most. Yet, they lost by 31 points.

16. Casey wisely said, "It's just one game. The series is not over by any means. The score is embarrassing, but it's just one game." And Toronto lost the opening game in its first two playoff series. And both losses were in Toronto.

17. I will agree with Casey that Toronto is not this bad, it was just a lousy game. But the Cavaliers just might be this good ... at least compared to the rest of Eastern Conference. At least, that's true when James is on your team. In Cleveland or Miami, James has won the last 17 playoff series against Eastern opponents.

18. It's obvious Lue and his coaching staff do a good job of keeping the Cavs in shape with all the off days. They waited nine days to play this game and had only four games in 23 days before Tuesday.

19. James had an interesting comment about all the time off: "We didn't rest. We just didn't have a game."

20. Kevin Love had a quiet game with 14 points and four rebounds in 27 minutes. The way the Cavs were playing, not much was needed from the power forward. James and Irving both rested in the fourth quarter. It was an ideal opener.