Raptors at Cavaliers
The Toronto Raptors have been the best fourth-quarter team in the NBA by a country mile since trading small forward Rudy Gay to the Sacramento Kings in December. They'll do battle with a team that just had an impressive fourth quarter of its own as they visit the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Tuesday. Toronto earned a pivotal come-from-behind 96-86 win over Atlanta on Sunday, while Cleveland rallied from a double-digit deficit to upend the New York Knicks 106-100.
Sunday's victory was the latest in a long string of dominant late-game performances for the Raptors, who have been ridiculously good at the tail end of games. Toronto enters Tuesday's action at plus-18.8 points per 100 possessions in fourth quarters since dealing Gay to the Kings; to put that in perspective, the next closest team is at plus-8.6. That has played a major role in Toronto seizing a slim lead over Brooklyn atop the Atlantic Division standings.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, SNET (Toronto), FSOH (Cleveland)
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (39-30): Toronto is on the verge of clinching its first playoff berth in six years — and has point guard Kyle Lowry to thank for it. Lowry padded his résumé as a pending unrestricted free agent in Sunday's victory, overcoming a slow start to rack up 25 points as Toronto outscored Atlanta 36-15 over the final 12 minutes en route to its biggest fourth-quarter comeback of the season. Lowry is expected to see his minutes reduced as the season finishes up in order to preserve him for a possible deep postseason run.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (27-44): Cleveland's point guard situation is far worse than Toronto's, with All-Star Kyrie Irving sidelined with a biceps injury. Jarrett Jack has stepped up in his absence and put together his best performance of the season Sunday with 31 points and 10 assists as Cleveland put an end to the Knicks' eight-game winning streak. The Cavaliers sit on the outside of the playoff picture, however, and with Irving expected to miss another week, time may be running out on their playoff aspirations.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Toronto has won both meetings against the Cavaliers this season.
2. Lowry averages 8.8 points on 30.8 percent from the field in 14 career games (seven starts) against Cleveland.
3. Cleveland is just 10-28 against teams above .500.