We can’t stop the Raptors, the winners in Cleveland!

The season in Toronto is off to a great start! The Raptors confirmed their current good form with a victory on Thursday in Cleveland, and in style (113-126) against the best team in the East last season. A very good performance that confirms a good start to the season and a conference for sixth place temporary.

The Canadian franchise started its streak two weeks ago with a win in Ohio. This time, and unlike the previous day in Miami, Donovan Mitchell is trained and he stands out. The All-Star guard is very aggressive on offense and makes free throws early in the match. De’Andre Hunter follows the movement and the Cavaliers quickly have a ten-point lead (24-14). Toronto is struggling on defense with three players already making mistakes (Barrett, Walter, Dick), but they are not disrupting their game plan. I Jamal Shead revives his team with two 3-point shots, the second with a narrow success to get back within one possession at the end of the first quarter (30-29).

horsemen, Tyrese Proctor in leadership, shackled failures behind the arc. Quite the opposite of the Raptors in success and alternating offense, between Scotty Barnes’ good start to the game next to the circle and the outside address Sandro Mamukelasvili or Immanuel Quickley from very far away. From 14-4, the visitors turned the tide and took control (34-43). They won’t let go until the final buzzer. Cleveland is finding some color thanks to the wrist Sam Merrill. But the home team is not at all defensive and a new 7-0 at the end of the first period offers the Raptors the first comfortable mattress for rest (54-67).

The Raptors lead from the second quarter to the end

Scotty Barnes continues his work (28 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 blocks) at the start, with a new block and finish in transition. Donovan Mitchell tries to sound rebellious, but he’s the only Cavaliers executive up to the task. All-Star breaks away and finds an unlikely lieutenant with Nae’Quan Tomlin (18 points). Cleveland cut the deficit to about ten points and then to five points at the end of the third quarter thanks to the exploits of their leading scorer.

But no circle protection from Barnes or aggressiveness Jakob PoeltlCleveland keeps falling behind. The Austrian scored ten of his twenty points on the night in the fourth quarter, and Barnes added ten of his own to give the Cavaliers back possession after possession. Back in control, Toronto got the job done thanks to two key 3-pointers by Quickley, to bury any hope of a Cavaliers comeback. The gap goes up to 17 points again and Kenny Atkinson prefers to stop the costs for his holders.

WHAT TO REMEMBER

– The Raptors are tearing up the Cavaliers defense. With the fifth game in seven days, Cleveland had reason to stick its tongue out. And Toronto knew how to take full advantage of it, picking up the pace as quickly as possible for 28 points on the Raptors’ counterattack, compared to just 6 for Cleveland. Since the address was there (9/16 on 3-pointers at halftime), the Canadians made the task easier, for the highest total of points the Cavs have received without overtime this season.

– Evan Mobley walks by. Watching him in action this Thursday gives us a better understanding of why Mobley was rested the day before in Miami. The outgoing defender of the year seemed out of juice, completely beside his subject with just seven points and as many attempts (2/7). He finished with his team’s worst +/- of -18, tied with Donovan Mitchell, who was very imperfect in this matchup (7/18, and seven turnovers) but struggled (31 points on 15/17 free throws). What Mobley didn’t make an impression on.

– Good rotations by Darko Rajaković. The Raptors bench continues to be one of the nice surprises at the start of the season. It was the “second unit,” connected with Brandon Ingram, that cut the deficit in the first quarter. Special mention should be made of Jamal Sheed, once again valuable (8 points, 7 assists in 24 minutes) and Sandro Mamukelasvili, definitely a very good choice during the last free action (13 points on 4/5, 5 rebounds).

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