Live Thread: Cavs vs. Raptors (#RevengeTour2016)
2016-01-04It’s a new year… with a new outlook and the thick of the NBA season ahead. Yet, some things linger from 2015… like the bitter taste of defeat at the hands of Eastern Conference foes. The Toronto Raptors were one of the few teams that had the Cavs’ number in the 2015 portion of the schedule, delivering a 103-99 loss during Thanksgiving week up north. So now… it’s payback time, as the wine & gold look to treat the Raptors more unkindly than their stadium steps treated their rollerskating dino mascot a few years ago…
This game will actually mark the last time the Cavs will play in the friendly confines of the Q (where they are 14-1 on the season) for the next two weeks. Then it’s onto a six game roadie that includes the annual Texas three-step. The Cavs look to be at or near full strength, with only Kevin Love a game time decision due to illness. The Raptors, who have built a surprising 21-14 record to lead the Atlantic Division, will have their work cut out for them with defensive specialist, and designated LeBron guarder, DeMarre Carroll out of the mix with a swollen right knee. Still, they’ll have big man, Jonas Valanciunas, back for this one after he missed the Raps’ win back in November.
If the Cavs can continue their good run of stringent defense, while working out of their recent team wide shooting slump, it should be a good night to serve up a little revenge on their Canadian guests. Prediction: Cavs trip up the Raps, and the dinos come crashing down 106-91.
Kyrie in attack mode. This is a good test for him against a physical team.
FINALLY! KLove shuts down the lane on DeRozan!
Man, JR going off tonight. And in a game where it matters.
Keep shooting JR!
Keep getting broken down on the dribble drive, one step/move and they’re ahead of us moving to the rim
Luis Scola makes Javier Bardem look feminine.
LeBron not playing great in the 3rd.
Horrible D too.
Terribly lazy pass by LBJ…
All starters in double figures.
Will give Scola credit though… his career lasted longer than his doppleganger, Russell Brand’s…
He never dated Katy Perry, though…
Or gave her Hep C…
Nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cavs gotta make the raps work on D. Can’t just take the first or second shot available. Especially if it’s a free throw pull-up.
Need to put Mo in so Lowry can go for 40 this half…
Cavs need to slow the pace down.
Or limit the fast breaks by the Raps.
Scola the flopper!
LeBron lazy on defense there.
He just gave up on that one… odd…
And then shook his head like someone should have had his back when he let the guy waltz on in there.
And the layup drill continues…….
Another easy layup for Lowry tho…
Great hockey assist by Lebron
GREAT passing! KLove splash!
Love that cross screen to the left block.
KLove down low… I like it!
Lowry is the only one shooting 3’s. It’s paint points we have to stop. Love isn’t shooting well. Clearly he isn’t feeling well.
Agreed. When they showed him close up, he looked pretty wiped out.
Raps haven’t exactly stopped the Cavs all that much either… granted they have Carroll out, but still… neither team defending well…
Delly has been garbage lately. Need more Mo
He’s having a bad game tonight. But I would not play Mo against the Raps guards.
You’ve officially become a “bot” Cols…
He hasn’t always been a bot?
If you look at their shooting percentages over the last five games, Delly has still been better than Mo.
Yeah, cause Mo did real well guarding Lowry last time… LOL
Our bench isn’t doing much on assists, pts or rebounds. James Jones helping though. I could be completely wrong but I say they show signs of fatigue late 3rd quarter. I watched that Bulls game yesterday. They got beat hard.
Story of Cavs D so far IMO is DeRozan is too much for JR and Lowry too much for KI/Delly. That and lack of rim protection, which of course is nothing new.
Cavs seem content to let guys go one-on-one on D against those two… probably need to switch things up in second half…
Raptors seem to always come to play against the Cavs. Not sure why they have such issues with the Bulls. Not just yesterday either. They never beat Chicago.
Maybe they’re still mad about LBJ and Wade prying Bosh away… they never got their superstar back… although they probably have two all stars in DeRozan and Lowry…
Cavs shooting very well including 11-11 from the line and out boarding Rap’s 19-11. Point in paint being won by Toronto 28-20 though, and while Cavs only have 6 turnovers, Raps have just 2. For being such a good team, we rarely seem to win the turnover battle.
Sort of the inverse of recent games… all kinds of offense and not much defense…
Yeah, Raps shooting 60/50/66.7. That is ridiculous.
Cavs a perfect 11/11 from the line. Yay TT!
This is a tight one.
Really high scoring half…
Raptors getting too many paint points
Cavs just letting Raps get to the rim with little resistance… Need to fix that in second half…
Their bench is kicking our ass. They have 20 pts
Too much passing that time…
I heard somewhere that the Raptors get to the line a lot. Not sure where they rank?
I always get angry when we play the Raptors. Probably because they’re a physical team and I feel like we get hosed on calls.
They’re a better team than I’ve given them credit for so far this year…
DeRozan just flopping… smh…
Great ball movement tonight, gotta make some adjustments defensively
Delly -13, Kyrie +13, both with 11 minutes. That is unusual.
Delly having the rare game where he’s playing like Cols thinks he plays so far.
Delly having a bad night… but as TV63 said, they are playing him tough…
I don’t like Scola!
Nice try Russell Brand!
Are we playing terrible D or are they just hot? Cause they’re shooting 65% now.
A bit of both…
They got some easy ones early, but I think it’s mainly Lowry is a human torch right now
When Lowry hits that 3 flying hard to his right, they’re just hot.
They need a fire hose to cool off Lowry.
Yeah Lowry looks really good tonight.
Delly has no idea how to defend Lowry. Needs to treat him like curry and deny him the ball
Lowry is one jacked up dude compared to Curry
When did Lowry turn into Steph Curry?
We think alike, sir
God, Lowry just going off…
JR having a good shooting game
JR SWISH!!!
Nice job TT, keep it up
Cavs defense is leaving something to be desired.
How about a goaltend, refs?
Way to hit em TT!!
TT hitting the offensive glass… now make the FTs!
Both teams shooting over 60% right now. Is this an all star game?
They called the foul on klove before they let it play out! He didn’t touch him. And they waited til kev was knocked out to call it on the other end. Wth is going on?
Love has ALWAYS had to work extremely hard for his fouls. The refs love to swallow their whistles with him.
Raptors playing much better defense this year.
Delly needs to play more under control….three wild drives now.
Delly having probs with Lowry… maybe the only PG in the league who hustles harder than Delly…
Yes You are correct
True, Lowry is a real PITA.
Would add Westbrook to that list
Raptors are playing him tight. They can’t do that to Kyrie. Kyrie so fast he turns invisible
Shump on Lowry then switched to TT. Very good!
Take that, Lowry.
I can’t believe how long it took these refs to call a foul on that.
I think that kind of thing is Exhibit A in why LeBron has been a reluctant post player for most of his career.
How’s everyone doing tonight?
Feeling good Dave! How about you?
Hoping to catch another Cavs win! Undefeated in 2016
Raptors straight up punking the Cavs…… The Cavs need to get nasty (Popovich Voice)
Punking them how?
By giving up 45 points?
By impossing their will. Getting to the basket at will etc etc etc
Refs slow to whistle there
Yeah… they hacked KLove to the floor…
Love on Lowry??
Moz getting some mins
James Johnson handchecking the heck out of Bron…
Raptors had 4 guys on Delly last break away. Playing him tight
LeBron looked like he got hit in the face on that drive.