Instant Reaction: Toronto Raptors 98, Cleveland Cavaliers 91
Feb 21, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Anthony Bennett (15) dunks the ball against the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Final Outcome
The six game win-streak was blown up in the second half of this one, as the Cavs dropped this one to the Raptors, 98-91. The Cavs played a strong defensive first half, going in with a 44-39 lead, but a 17-point swing in the third quarter took the game away from the Cavs, and the homecoming for Tristan Thompson and Anthony Bennett was spoiled by a strong effort led by Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross.
Key Play to the Game
The Cavs held the Raptors to 32.7 percent shooting in the first half, one of their best defensive performances of the season. However, the Raptors came out of the gate on fire in the third, shooting 69.5 percent from the field in the quarter and outscoring the Cavs by 17. The flurry was led by Patrick Patterson and Jonas Valanciunas, capped by a Patrick Patterson three that forced a timeout with about three minutes left in the quarter to make it 71-58. That basically made it impossible for the Cavs to get back into the game.
Wine & Gold MVP
Tristan Thompson was quiet for stretches of the game against Jonas and Amir Johnson, but he was arguably the team’s most consistent player. Thompson threw down a few vicious dunks throughout the game, and stuck to patrolling the inside rather than screwing around from mid-range, and the result was a 13 point, 9 rebound night on 6-10 shooting. His defense fell apart in the second half, but every Cavs’ defensive effort did, and Thompson was strong enough in the first half to earn this tonight.
Top Tweets
I see yu spence!!!!!
— Philly Cheese 🧀 (@dionwaiters3) February 22, 2014
Jack is allegedly shooting 39% this season. Fairly sure it's 7% in the games I've watched, which is most of them.
— Mike Schreiner (@Mike__Schreiner) February 22, 2014
Delly challenging a Valanciunas drive. He's god-awful but bless the little guy he has no fear
— Serbian Clydesdale (@IllegalScreens) February 22, 2014
Jarrett Jack: hesitation move, step inside three point arc, miss jumper, repeat
— Carter Rodriguez (@Carter_Shade) February 22, 2014
Immaculate forces have contrived Mike Brown to forget Jack is playing tonight. RT @Tmagnotti: Jack is at 34 minutes already tonight. Why
— FearTheSword (@FearTheSword) February 22, 2014
Coach Brown Breakdown:
Brown made some cool adjustments to having Spencer Hawes on the floor, including adding Hawes/Kyrie dribble hand-offs to the playbook and allowing Hawes to take a few threes within the flow of the offense. He also juggled the bigs’ minutes well, something that was a concern for some coming into the game. However, Jarrett Jack played far too many minutes tonight when Delly was clearly playing better, and Brown had a long leash on his timeouts during the big third-quarter run. A pretty mediocre job tonight from Brown.
Up Next
The Cavs are back at it on Sunday against the team the winning streak began against, the Washington Wizards. That game will be at the Q at 6 p.m.