King James again reigns supreme
Cavs star drops 34 points on Toronto as Raptors’ six-game winning run comes to an end
TORONTO — Back-to-back blowout wins can be a lot of fun, even more so when they extend a winning streak to six, but often there is a price to pay.
The likelihood that debt will be collected multiplies when the next team up is the defending NBA champs who just happen to be dragging a three-game losing skid behind them.
The Raptors debt came due Monday night as an ornery — not to mention rested — bunch of Cavaliers showed up to re-establish their hold as the team to beat, a hold that had slipped slightly with the threegame skid, but only to those who were willing to overlook the fact the best all-around player in the world still plays in Cleveland.
LeBron James was there to remind one and all that he can almost score at will as he carried his team to a 116-112 win over the overmatched Raptors.
It was the third consecutive win by the Cavs over Toronto this season. Toronto will get one more crack at them in the regular season.
There were times in the game when the Raptors looked like they might just pull this one off, but every time it started to feel that way, James took the game into his own hands and delivered when his team needed him most.
On this night, the Cavs needed James to be a scorer, which he did, finishing with a team-high 34 points in a season-high 42 minutes.
He had assistance in this one, that goes without saying. It began with the 28 points from Kevin Love and another 24 from Kyrie Irving, but it was James who had the difference-making plays all night.
In addition to his 34 points, he chipped in with eight boards and seven assists and was his normal disruptive self on the defensive end as well.
The Raptors seemed to spend a good part of the night focused on the lack of calls going their way, which even if they were warranted did them no good in the end.
The biggest surprise was head coach Dwane Casey somehow avoided getting a technical.
Casey, though, also had the Cavs’ shooting percentage to get his blood boiling.
For the vast majority of the game up until the final five minutes of play, the Cavs were shooting above the magical 50-per-cent mark. Through the first quarter, it was an embarrassing (for Toronto) 65 per cent. Eventually they got that number down to a somewhat respectable 47.6 per cent, but it will likely get mentioned quite a bit over the next two days as the Raptors catch a little break in the schedule before hosting Minnesota Thursday.
DeMar DeRozan looked like he had brought the Raptors to within two of the Cavs with 10 seconds remaining, but his three-point basket was overturned on video review after he stepped out of bounds.
DeRozan still wound up with a Raptors-high 31 points on the night.
The first half was more about the trainers than the players at times.
First James came down awkwardly after completing a dunk and stayed down.
The Cavs called a timeout and James went to the bench looking like he was favouring his groin.
At the conclusion of the timeout, he was back on the court, but on a few occasions could be seen stretching as he came back up the court.
The next casualty was Raptors guard Kyle Lowry, but like James his discomfort proved temporary.
He took an elbow in the mouth and required a quick trip to the locker-room, where the team dentist froze the area above his top lip. Lowry returned and looked no worse for wear.
The most significant injury followed Lowry’s as Cleveland’s J.R. Smith came down after a basket and couldn’t make it back down the court, falling to the floor and slamming his hand in frustration.
He also went to his locker-room, but did not return because of a leftknee injury.
When the two teams were actually playing, it was a lot of offence from both sides and not surprisingly little in the way of defence.
The Cavs shot 55 per cent in the half or about six per cent better than Casey is even beginning to find acceptable.
Still, the Raps were only down a single point in the half thanks primarily to a much more potent bench and somewhat because of some early foul trouble to Irving and the loss of Smith.