Cavaliers hold off pesky Raptors 132-126 for 12th straight win

BY TIM SHIRER

CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER

(CLEVELAND, OH) - Thursday night the Cleveland Cavaliers welcomed in the struggling Toronto Raptors (8-29, 1-16 road) who they had already defeated twice this season in two games to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The matchup came one night after the Cavaliers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder (30-6) 129-122 in the most anticipated regular season matchup in years in the NBA with a playoff type atmosphere on the court and from the sellout crowd. On Thursday night the Cavs were attempting to run their win streak to 12 games without Donovan Mitchell who was rested, and they achieved their goal. It was not easy as the Raptors played very well, but the Cavs won their 12th straight 132-126 to move to 33-4 on the season.

The Cavs hit two threes early to take a 6-2 lead. The Raptors tied the game 6-6 with 9:24 left when RJ Barrett scored. The game remained close within a point or two for the next five minutes. With 4:47 left in the quarter the Cavs took a timeout with the Raptors up 18-16. With 4:08 left the Raptors extended the lead to 21-16 on a three pointer by Jamal Shead. The Raptors led the Cavs at the end of the first quarter 33-27. Chris Boucher led all scorers with 11 first quarter points. Evan Mobley and Darius Garland led the Cavs with eight points each. The Raptors were on fire shooting 62% (13 of 21) from the field while the Cavs shot only 48% (10 of 21). The Raptors also outrebounded the Cavs 12-7 in the first 12 minutes.

The Raptors were not about to go away and increased their lead to 43-36 with 7:17 left in the first half when Davion Mitchell scored in the paint. Midway through the second quarter the Cavs closed to within 45-43 on a fast break basket by Sam Merril who returned to action after missing several games with 5:18 left in the half. Then, with 4:28 the Cavs tied the game after steal by Jarrett Allen and the nig man slammed the ball home at the other end tying the game 48-48. Toronto coach Darko Rajokovic called an immediate timeout. The Cavs did take a brief 53-52 lead with 2:10 left after Barrett was called for a technical foul and Garland made the free throw. The lead then went back and forth a couple times in the final two minutes. With 58 seconds left in the first half Mobley hit a three giving the Cavs a 58-55 lead and then Boucher hit a three at the other end with 37 seconds left. Garland retaliated at the other end with a three with 17 seconds left to once again put the Cavs up three points, but Barret got the last laugh of the half hitting a three and sending the teams to the locker room tied 61-61. Garland led all scorers with 15 first half points and Boucher led the Raptors with 14. The Raptors cooled off in the second quarter and shot 46% (11 of 24) and 53% (24 of 45) for the half. While the Cavs shot 47% (22 of 47) in the first half. The Raptors also outshot the Cavs from three-point range. Toronto shot 47% (9 of 19) from long range, while the Cavs shot 33% (9 of 27) in the first 24 minutes. The two teams were equal on the board, each pulling down 23 rebounds.

The Raptors came out shooting well in the third quarter and outscored the Cavs 8-4 in the first 2:16 of the period. With 8:53 left on the clock in the quarter the Raptors led 77-72. The Cavs took a timeout, and Atkinson was furious about something as he went at it with official Josh Tiven and then Simone Jelks for over a minute at the start of the timeout. Then with 5:18 left in the third the Raptors took their biggest lead of the game to that point at 89-78 after a Cavs turnover and Boucher turned the mistake into points at the other end. Atkinson in an attempt to stop the bleeding took an immediate timeout. The Cavs then went on a 12-6 run to pull to within 95-90 with 2:37 left when Max Strus hit Georges Niang under the basket. As time ran out in the third quarter the Cavs trailed 103-98 as Ty Jerome hit two free throws with :00.6 left on the clock. Garland was still leading all scorers with 26 points through three quarters. The pesky Boucher who had words with Niang as the quarter buzzer rang was leading the Raptors with 23. The Raptors shot 76% (19 of 25) in the third quarter, the Cavs shot 66% (14 of 21) in the quarter. The Cavs were now winning the battle of the boards 32-27.

The Cavs cut the Raptors lead to 105-103 with 10:35 left in the game on a three by Garland. After the two teams traded threes and the Raptors hit a free throw the Cavs tied the game with 9:24 left on a three by Caris LeVert. After the Cavs defense caused the Raptors to commit a shot clock violation the Cavs took a 111-109 lead when LeVert hit a jumper from the foul line with 8:45 left in the game. After the Raptors tied the game 111-111 on a layup by Jakob Poeltl with 8:19 left. After Mobley was fouled and made one of two free throws the Raptors regained the lead 113-112 and then 115-12 on a jumper in the paint by Poeltl with 7:24 left. The Cavs regained the lead with 6:08 left when LeVert drove the lane and gave the Cavs a 116-115 lead. The lead was back in Toronto’s favor just 35 second later when Gradey Dick hit a shot off the glass giving the Raptors a 117-116 lead. With 3:25 left Strus hit a three to give the Cavs a 126-120 lead. The Raptors then turned the ball over, but the Cavs could not take advantage. The Raptors then closed to 126-122 with 2:24 left. After a bad shot by the Cavs the Raptors responded and the Cavs lead was 126-124 with less than two minutes left in the game. With 39 seconds left in the game Garland hit a three from in front of the Cavs bench to give the Cavs a 129-124 lead and send the sparse sellout crowd into a frenzy. After a Raptors timeout out Boucher had a wide open three which he airballed way over the rim directly into Mobley’s hands. Garland was fouled at the other end with 19 seconds left. As Garland shot the two free throws and made them to give the Cavs a 131-124 lead the crowd chanted, MVP, MVP, MVP, for a guy who last year at this time’s future as a Cavalier looked to be in doubt.

Garland led all scorers with a season high 40 points, 11 point shy of his career high 51. Garland also had nine assists, one shy of a double double. But the double double machines of Mobley and Allen stuck again. Mobley had 21 points and 11 rebounds, notching his 16th of the season and his 83rd of his career. Allen had his 22nd of the season and his 211th of his career. Former rookie of the year Scottie Barnes led the Raptors with 24 points, he also had a double double pulling down 10 rebounds. Boucher finished with a double double also, scoring 23 points and pulling down 12 boards in a losing effort.

The Raptors outshot the Cavs 60% (53 of 89) to 53% (47 of 89) from the field and from three-point range 45% (14 of 31) to 40% (18 of 45). The difference was at the free throw line as the Cavs shot 80% (20 of 25) from the line, while the Raptors only got to the line 13 times making only six (46%). The Cavs also outrebounded the Raptors 42-37.

The Cavs will now be off until Sunday night when they will host the Indiana Pacers (20-18, 10-12 road) at 6 pm. The game will be the first meeting of the season between the two teams. Last season the two clubs split the season series 2-2. The Pacers won the first two meetings and then the Cavs took the final two meetings. The teams were 1-1 at home and 1-1 on the road against each other. The all-time series lead belongs to the Pacers 108-103. The Cavs do lead the all-time series at home (Richfield Coliseum, RMFH) 66-42.