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The 38-25 Cleveland Cavaliers played host to the 30-31 Toronto Raptors. The Cavaliers exploded in the second half to win the game, 118-93
The Cavs came into the game after suffering two straight losses since the All-Star break. The Raptors have had the opposite experience, winning their last two since the break.
The Raptors were without Fred VanVleet, who has missed the last two weeks for personal reasons.
The Cavs won the tip off and Cleveland’s Darius Garland and Toronto’s Pascal Siakam went to work for their teams early. Siakam scored 5 quick points before Garland went on an 8-0 run.
The Raptors came into the game playing very physically. It hurt them early as Scottie Barnes and head coach Nick Nurse were both called for technical fouls in the first quarter.
The first quarter ended with the Raptors cutting the lead down to 34-28. Garland scored 12, Jarrett Allen scored 11 and Donovan Mitchell scored 9.
For Toronto it was Siakam leading the way with 10, and Jeff Dowtin Jr, a two-way player, scoring 5.
The second quarter was a good opportunity for the Cavs to grow their lead. Their offense got hot and gave the Cavs a 64-52 lead.
Mitchell was the high scoring Cav with 22 at half while Allen had 17. For Toronto it was Barnes leading the way with 10 by half and Jakob Poeltl, the newly acquired center from the San Antonio Spurs, with 6 points and 6 rebounds.
Early in the third, another Siakam hot stretch cut the Cleveland lead down to four, until the Cavs were able to go on another 8-0 stretch to push the lead back to twelve.
Midway through the third Mitchell was called for an offensive foul. Head coach JB Bickerstaff made a questionable decision to challenge the play. The challenge was unsuccessful, and to make matters worse, was upgraded to a flagrant one. Toronto hit their free throws to make it a 10 point game.
The foul call lit a fire under Mitchell, as he helped the Cavs go on a run and get their first 20-point lead of the night, 91-71.
The Raptors ended the third quarter cutting the lead down to 92-76. Mitchell was up to 35 while Allen had 21 with 11 rebounds at the end of the third. Toronto had Siakam with 22 and Barnes with 12.
The fourth quarter sealed the game for the Cavs. Starters and key rotational players had their nights end early while both teams saw the end of their benches get some action.
The star players for the Cavs were Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen. Mitchell had 35 points and 8 threes to lead all players in both categories. Allen scored 23 with 11 rebounds.
The best for Toronto were Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poeltl. Siakam had 25 with 8 rebounds while Poeltl had 13 and 9.
The Cavs finish this month with an 8-3 record. They will play next on Wednesday against the 44-17 Boston Celtics.
Toronto will be back in action on Tuesday when they take on the 28-33 Chicago Bulls.
