Cavaliers looking to turn it around against strong Raptors
The Cleveland Cavaliers have officially arrived at the halfway stage of their National Basketball Association regular season campaign.
Hornets 99, Jazz 88: Marvin Williams scored seven fourth-quarter points, and six Hornets finished in double figures as Charlotte defeated Utah despite a big outing from Jazz rookie Donovan Mitchell.
DeRozan credited a strong offensive flow for how the game unfolded. Cavs general manager Koby Altman has some tough calls to make.
Time will tell whether this game was a flash in the pan or if the Raptors will consistently get the better of the Cavaliers this season. When that ball's moving and they don't know where it's coming from, it's more hard to guard.
The leaguewide 3-point record is going to get shattered, again. "It's not you're guarding [Victor] Oladipo or I'm guarding Oladipo, we're all guarding Oladipo".
But after another blowout loss Thursday night against the new-look Raptors, Cleveland looks vulnerable, their crown starting to slide off a touch.The real question is whether any East team is able to take advantage. For the season, Cleveland has defeated opponents by an average of 1.1 points.
Until the playoffs start though, the doubts will still be there and it will be up to the Raptors to show that they are for real and are indeed a force to be reckoned with.
For Cleveland, it works the other way.
The MVP tag could also be applied to Ibaka, as Toronto's most volatile player, a 6-foot-10 power forward whose short fuse has not done him any favours this season.
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Tuanzebe played in the Champions League clash with CSKA last year and also featured on New Year's day against Everton. The club are looking to secure a return to the English top flight this season and Tuanzebe could be pivotal to that.
"You can never overlook them, underlook them no matter how they play, no matter what the score of a game is", DeRozan says.
Cavaliers: "We come out with low energy in the fourth quarter", James said. We got a history, so I already know that. We've had not-so-great months. "We were playing good ball".
There's little doubt this Cavaliers team has plenty of that, and plenty of talent.
Isaiah Thomas struggled for the second consecutive game in his comeback from a torn labrum in his right hip. Even the Raptors' reserves were taking it to the Cavs as Fred VanVleet scored a team-high 22 points in 24 minutes. In the moments after, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey immediately pointed to the large disparity in 3-point shooting between the two teams, speaking about trying to evolve in the summer.Change was necessary.
When asked about it afterward, the players were confused, with each saying they didn't have one.
Reason for optimism: They're holding teams to 44 percent shooting this season, and the defense keeps looking better.
Of course, they lost that 22-point lead, accounting for their biggest collapse of the season.
That's why two teams played two very different games Thursday night, but left Air Canada Centre in the same exact place: Waiting for the spring, when the real versions of both will emerge.
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