Cavaliers at Raptors
The Toronto Raptors looked strong in back-to-back wins to close out their five-game road trip but take a big jump in competition when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. The Cavaliers are averaging 113.7 points in three straight wins and sit atop the Eastern Conference.
Cleveland shot 53.1 percent from the field in a 117-103 win over the Orlando Magic on Monday as LeBron James turned distributor and Kevin Love handled the scoring load. “We recognized our mismatches that we had, and the guys on the floor were smart,” Cavaliers coach David Blatt told reporters. “They went to Kevin and Kev just delivered time after time (by) doing what he knows how to do with a very good mix of inside-outside play.” The Raptors just got done flummoxing one All-Star power forward in the 91-80 win over the Los Angeles Clippers and will attempt to bring that same intensity on Wednesday. “We know what we can accomplish now and this was definitely a confidence boost,” Toronto forward DeMarre Carroll told reporters after the win.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Cleveland), TSN (Toronto)
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (11-3): Love posted a double-double in each of the first two of a three-game homestand and finished it off with a season-high 34 points on Monday. The former All-Star scored 17 points in a row at one point in the second quarter. “I was just finding a good rhythm,” Love told reporters. “My shot has felt great, but it just hasn’t quite dropped at least from the perimeter. The guys are finding me on the break and giving me good looks. We have done a really good job the last few games with everybody going from a good shot to a great shot, and you saw that tonight from the perimeter.”
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (9-6): Toronto lost starting center Jonas Valanciunas to a broken hand in the recent win over the Los Angeles Lakers but had no trouble guarding the interior against the Clippers, holding Blake Griffin to a season-low nine points. “You are playing guys who are much bigger, more athletic, so you have to find a way to make them uncomfortable so we were trying some different defensive schemes,” forward Luis Scola told the Toronto Star. “If he contested a shot at the rim we tried to make him pay, and if he wanted to stay with me then we got a clear paint to get layups.” Scola was playing in the frontcourt alongside Bismack Biyombo, who took over Valanciunas’ starting spot.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Cavaliers took the final three of the four meetings last season.
2. Toronto G DeMar DeRozan is shooting 18.2 percent from 3-point range.
3. Cleveland G Mo Williams (ankle) missed the last three games and remains day-to-day.