Cavaliers send Raptors to tar pits 121-117
BY STONE LEXINGTON
CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER
To achieve their ultimate goal again this season, the Cleveland Cavaliers know they may have to get past the Toronto Raptors again in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Cavs defeated the Raptors in six games in the East Finals last season to advance to the NBA Finals and ultimately claim their first championship in franchise history.
Tuesday night, the Cavs and Raptors met for the second time this season, as Toronto sought to get past the hurdle that has been Cleveland of late. The Cavs had won the previous three meetings with Toronto dating back to the 2016 playoffs, winning those three games by an average of 22.4 points. Their latest encounter was a thriller.
Both teams traded clutch plays and buckets down the stretch, but it was the Cavs that came out on top again, this time 121-117 in Quicken Loans Arena.
“When you have our three-headed monster in myself, Kev and Kyrie, and then you add another pressure-release valve like Channing, and then we have J.R. on the floor as well, it’s just like you have to pick your poison,” LeBron James said.
Cleveland held a 61-57 halftime lead in a game that left admirers of defense cringing. When Cavs power forward Tristan Thompson threw down a putback dunk off a Mike Dunleavy missed three-pointer with 1:16 to play in the third quarter, Cleveland held a 91-79 lead, their largest of the game. The Cavs took a 91-84 lead into the fourth quarter, but Toronto refused to go away.
So much so that when Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas knocked down two free throws with 7:01 remaining, Toronto had climbed back to take a 99-98 lead. When Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry drained a three-pointer with 4:24 to play, the Cavs seemed in serious trouble as Toronto’s lead ballooned to a 110-103 advantage.
Nevertheless, the Cavs showed grit in the final four minutes, immediately going on a 10-2 run that was capped by a Kyrie Irving three-pointer with 1:57 left to give Cleveland a 113-112 lead. Trailing 115-114 with under a minute to play, Cleveland big-man Channing Frye (season-high 21 points) sank his fifth triple of the night to give the Cavs a 117-115 lead with 59 seconds remaining.
After both teams’ flurry in the final few minutes, it was James’ turn to close the game. James converted a dazzling layup with 34 seconds to play and converted 1-of-2 free throws with 20 seconds left to give Cleveland a 120-115 lead. His late three-point burst essentially iced the game.
“I don’t predetermine what I’m going to do,” James said. “The game just flowed for me tonight and I was able to read and react and make plays for myself and make plays for my teammates. That’s who I am.”
With the victory over Toronto on Tuesday, the Cavs matched their best start in franchise history after 10 games at 9-1, originally set in the 1976-77 season. Cleveland was without J.R. Smith, who is nursing a sore right ankle, but several Cavaliers finished with standout games in his absence.
Aside Frye’s 21 points, James nearly totaled a triple-double with the walking triple-double himself, Oscar Robertson, watching from the sidelines. Cleveland’s king finished with 28 points, nine rebounds and 14 assists in 38 minutes. Irving chipped-in 24 points, five rebounds and four assists, while Kevin Love had 19 points and 13 rebounds, his fifth straight double-double and seventh this season.
“Guys are just doing a great job of getting him involved,” Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue said of Love. “We try to goto him early to get him in rhythm because we know Kyrie and LeBron have the ball in their hands so much throughout the course of the game, so we’re really focusing on going to Kevin early in that first quarter to get him going, get him in rhythm. He’s being a lot more aggressive, attacking the basket off the dribble.
“Guys are closing him out, running him off the three-point line, so he’s doing a great job of beating those guys on the catch and getting to the basket, getting the foul. Also, offensive rebounding, put-backs and getting fouled around the basket. He’s just being very aggressive and we like it.”
Tuesday night was the second meeting between the Cavs and Raptors this season. The Cavs won 94-91 in Toronto in their second game of the season, a contest in which Raptors small forward DeMar DeRozan had 32 points. DeRozan finished with 28 points, five rebounds and nine assists Tuesday night in the losing effort.
“It’s not surprising because he’s a great midrange shooter,” Lue said of DeRozan. “When you’re shooting 35, 36 percent from midrange, it’s really a bad shot. But he’s shooting a high clip from midrange, and that’s what he does.
“He takes what the defense gives him, but also, he’s not going to take threes if he’s not a three-point shooter. I really commend him on getting to his spot, a lot like D-Wade was early in his career.”
The Cavs have hit at least 10 three-pointers in all 10 games this season, an NBA record for consecutive games with 10 or more made threes to start a season. No Cavaliers team has ever started a season 10-1 through 11 games, which Cleveland will attempt to achieve tomorrow night in Indiana against the Pacers.
POSTED 11/15/2016 22:23
Lake County Sentinel
