2016 NBA Playoffs: The unsung heroes from the teams in the Conference Finals

#4 Bismack Biyombo – Toronto Raptors

Bismack Biyombo

Given the injuries and disappointing play from their key players, it’s fair to say that the Toronto Raptors underachieved when their campaign ended in the Eastern Conference Finals at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

By no means is that an insult to their play, it’s instead an appreciation of how the team has battled together to win. They were the only team in the NBA Playoffs to hand the Cavaliers a loss and their back up center Bismack Biyombo is a huge reason behind that.

In their two games at home, that the Raptors won, Biyombo used the crowd’s energy as a weapon and manned the paint, an area Cleveland was scoring baskets at will in Games 1 & 2. In the first two games of the series, Biyombo had combined for just 9 rebounds and 2 blocked shots where as in Games 3 & 4 at home, he registered 40 rebounds and 7 blocks.

He couldn’t produce that kind of numbers in the series again but his activity and positive attitude in the paint on defense during those two games were a huge reason for Toronto winning. DeMar Derozan and Kyle Lowry did produce offensively but at some point the Raptors had to stop the Cavaliers’ offense rather than try to match it and that’s where Biyombo stepped up, after starting center Jonas Valanciunas was ruled out of the series.