Strus explodes for 20 points in 3rd quarter
The Cavs defeated the Toronto Raptors 105-102 and captured their 1st win of their 5 game home stand.
The 1st quarter was back and forth as the Cavs held a lead as large as 8 after going on a 13-0 run. The Raptors responded back with a 17-6 run to end the quarter with a 28-25 lead.
The Cavs generated their offense using the pick and roll which resulted in Jarrett Allen scoring 10 of his 18 points in the 1st quarter.
Protecting the paint has been an issue for the Cavs all season long, and they struggled with that again Sunday night. The Raptors grabbed 11 offensive rebounds in the first half and scored 26 of their 52 1st half points in the paint.
The Cavs were fortunate to only be down 10 points at halftime after they had 9 turnovers in the first half. The Raptors only scored 7 points off those turnovers.
The Cavs began the second half with a 19-11 run to cut the lead to 2. Max Strus had an offensive explosion in the 3rd quarter, he scored 20 points and was a perfect 4/4 behind the 3 point line.
The 3rd quarter proved to be the Cavs most productive of the night. They held the Raptors to 20 points and only allowed 5 second chance points in the quarter. The Cavs ended the quarter with a 74-72 lead.
The first two possessions of the 4th quarter were spotlighted by plays from Tristan Thompson who gathered 2 offensive rebounds in back to back possessions that propelled the Cavs to a 5-0 run to begin the quarter.
Donovan Mitchell only scored 10 points although he did hit a basket to put the Cavs up by 5 with less than 3 minutes left in regulation. Coach Bickerstaff in post game didn’t have any concern with Mitchell having an off night, instead he gave credit to his team for picking up the slack.
“There’s no conversation, Donovan knows we have the ultimate belief in him, and the law of averages mean in the next coming games there’s going to be an explosion. We believe in him, his teammates believe in him. But again what I think is important is that it’s about the team, and his teammates stepped up on a night when he didn’t have a great shooting night. But he didn’t let that deter him from trying to do other things, he didn’t put his head down, he competed defensively, he still tried to get his teammates involved. His shot making is going to come, there’s no doubt about that.”
With Mitchell having an off night, Darius Garland carried the scoring load, dropping 9 of his 24 points in the 4th quarter. Coach Bickerstaff applauded Garland for his unselfish play and willingness to get his teammates involved.
“When the ball is in his hands everyone is an option, I think his teammates know that. The thing with Darius, people want to play with him and play for him, it’s because he does things creatively, and does things selflessly. He just makes the right play. Our big guys feed off it cause now they’re able to make plays, I think we saw that tonight with how our big guys work together in crucial moments. It’s great to see him getting it going, he only had 1 one turnover in the second half also which is even better. We need him, we need him to be big time every night”
The Raptors cut the lead to 1 point after Dennis Schroder nailed a 3 off a drive and kick from Scottie Barnes with 15.7 seconds left in regulation.
The next possession, the Raptors intentionally fouled Mitchell. He sank both free throws to push the Cavs lead back to 3.
The Raptors final possession saw the ball end in Gary Trent Jr’s hands off a pass from Schroder. With Allen switched on to him, Trent Jr attempted to make a move to create some space along the left sideline but stepped on the out of bounds line to end their possession.
With 1.6 seconds left on the clock, the Cavs inbounded the ball and claimed victory.
The Cavs (8-8) will face the Atlanta Hawks (8-8) on Tuesday November 28th. This will be each team’s 4th NBA In Season Tournament game.
