Quietly, Brampton's Tristan Thompson has had a major impact in the Raptors-Cleveland Cavaliers series that the Cavs comfortably lead 3-0. From hustling for loose balls and rebounds, to standing up for his teammates whenever the Raptors actually handed out a hard foul, to hitting enough of his free throws and inside looks to keep Toronto honest, Thompson has been a force.

Thompson is an NBA-best +74 in the second round. He's averaged 11.7 rebounds, 9.4 points and shot over 50% from the field and 64% from the line vs. the Raptors.

“Double T definitely does things that do not show up on the box score,” James said.

“We know all about his rebounding ability, (but) for his ability to be able to switch out onto guards (with his quick feet) it allows the other four gusy to stay home at bay. He made (DeRozan) take a couple of contested shots, made (Cory Joseph) take some contested shots around the basket and that allowed us to clean the glass. His ability to be able to slide his feet versus guys that are shorter than him is big-time for our ball club.”

Before the series, Joseph told Postmedia: “With Tristan, the battle is rebounding. He has a great motor, always has since he was a kid. Relentless, worker. He does it so well,” Joseph warned. “The rebounding game with Tristan starts before the ball hits the rim. You have to be boxing him out and keeping him under control before that ball hits the rim. Once the ball releases the players' hand and it's for a shot, if you just go and try to straight rebound, he will create angles, find a way to get that ball, get loose balls.

“We have to take him out of the equation.”

Hasn't happened.

Joseph compared Thompson to Dennis Rodman in the way he can impact a game with his work behind the scenes.

"He's a guy with a great motor and he's always been that way. We've got to try to definitely, that's a big reason why they score a lot of points like that, because he gets them so many second chances, second opportunities. We definitely have to limit that. If it's smalls cracking down, a lot of time a big rotates to LeBron."

Toronto has had no answers on the boards.

In time, the Raptors have hope that 2016 first-round draft pick Pascal Siakam will turn into a similar player as Thompson. They have compared his footwork on defence and hunger to hunt out rebounds to Thompson, the No. 4 selection of the 2011 draft.