Raptors vs. Cavaliers: Score, Highlights, Reaction from 2016 Regular Season
With Oscar Robertson watching on, LeBron James just missed a triple-double while propelling his Cleveland Cavaliers past the Toronto Raptors 121-117 Tuesday night.
James finished with 28 points, nine rebounds and 14 assists in a heated duel with Toronto's DeMar DeRozan. Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving followed James' lead with 19 and 24 points, respectively.
Cleveland entered Tuesday's encounter boasting 10 or more conversions from deep in every game to start the year. The onslaught continued against the Raptors, giving the team an NBA record, according to the team's official Twitter account.
DeRozan, the Eastern Conference's Player of the Week, entered leading the league in scoring at 34 points per game and as the first since Michael Jordan in 1986-87 to score 30 or more in eight of his first nine games to start a season. He snapped the streak with 26 points on 10-of-27 shooting. Kyle Lowry flanked him with 28 points.
While just a regular-season encounter, the Raptors entered understanding the importance of getting a win at Quicken Loans Arena after failing to win there last year and in each of the three Eastern Conference Finals games before losing the series 4-2.
Toronto came up just short in this ambition, shooting 47.9 percent from the floor to Cleveland's 53.0 and losing the battle on the glass 46-40.
DeRozan got to work early, scoring six points on an 11-4 run to start the game. With Richard Jefferson starting in place of the injured J.R. Smith, Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue didn't have defensive stalwart Iman Shumpert on the floor early to combat the mismatch.
Not to suggest Cleveland couldn't match—while Toronto leaned on isolation plays, Irving had the offense flowing well, as shown on this connection with Tristan Thompson captured by the Cavaliers' official Twitter account:
James made an exception to his team's ball-movement ways in the second quarter while the broadcasters at courtside interviewed Robertson.
NBA TV captured the epic moment:
James decided the DeRozan show deserved a cancellation and turned his play up a notch, at halftime flirting with the idea of a triple-double at 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, five boards and four assists. Love led all scorers with 16, while DeRozan led Toronto at 12.
One could have reasonably expected the 61-57 shootout favoring the hosts at halftime to continue the rest of the way considering both teams hit the break shooting better than 50 percent from the floor.
Toronto pushed the pace in the second half, eventually taking a 74-73 lead in the third quarter by simply pushing down the court harder on rebounds and turnovers. Most of the credit went to DeRozan, who suddenly stepped back and hit his fourth and fifth shots from deep on the season rather than leaning on his mid-range prowess.
The Raptors poked some fun at DeRozan detractors for his reliance on the mid-range looks:
But again—Cleveland found a way to clap back. While James stuffed the stat sheet on one end, Thompson bullied the paint:
Toronto's pace eventually backfired. James continued to orchestrate the offense, helping the Cavaliers hit on an 8-0 run near the end of the third quarter.
Thompson put the exclamation point on opening up a sizable advantage:
The Raptors weren't going away in the final frame, though. Terrence Ross splashed back-to-back deep shots to give Toronto a 107-101 edge with 5:07 left.
Then Irving took over. Eight points down the stretch from the Finals hero put the Cavaliers ahead 113-112. He then turned it over to unassuming hero Channing Frye, who hit a deep shot to make it 117-115. It was Frye's 11th three-pointer over two games, according to Akron Beacon Journal's Jason Lloyd.
From there, the Cavaliers played keep away and took a 2-0 advantage against the Raptors this year.
Both teams emerge from Tuesday's chaos and have little time to dwell on the result before difficult Wednesday games. Cleveland hits the road and takes on the 5-6 Indiana Pacers. Toronto welcomes Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors to the Air Canada Centre.
Postgame Reaction
Fox Sports Ohio caught up with James after the game to ask him about playing in front of Robertson:
Frye came up as a major point of conversation after the game. So it goes when a critical rotational piece posts 21 points and hits five shots from deep.
Lue talked about his contributions:
"It was a crazy game. We were down, we were up; we were down, we were up," Lue said, according to Rick Noland of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram.
Officiating might be a topic brought up for the next few days after some interesting calls late. Lowry, who earned a technical foul late in the game for kicking the ball, held back while speaking with TSN Sports' Josh Lewenberg:
All stats and info via ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.
Follow Chris Roling (@Chris_Roling) on Twitter.
