NBA: LeBron leads Cavs to comeback win over Toronto

In a real offensive spectacle, the Cleveland Cavaliers (42-29) have turned a 15-point gap for a break and set a small exclamation mark against the Eastern Conference leader, the Toronto Raptors (53-19). Thanks to an outstanding LeBron James the Cavs win with 132:129 (BOXSCORE).

Defense? There weren’t in the first few minutes. The opponents fired from all pipes and were completely overwhelmed in the defense on the other side. LeBron James was already at 9 points and 8 assists after 12 minutes, Kevin Love had 10 points. The teams cooled off slightly, whereby the guests had clear advantages with their bank lineups. Fred VanVleet sunk three long-range throws, Jakob Pöltl ran Love on the board a few times look old.

Also with LeBron back on the field Toronto remained dominant. Pascal Siakam defended much better against the Cavs star than O.G. before. Anunoby, the visitors’ advantage increased to 12 points after the tenth Toronto three-pointer of the half time. VanVleet even added one shortly before the break, the Raptors went into the cabin with a 79:64 lead.

After the change, the Cavs defense picked up a bit, Toronto had to work harder for the points, but could rely on Kyle Lowry’s hot hand when in doubt. But that was deceptive, the Raptors now relied too much on the distance throw and it didn’t fall like before, because Cleveland released players like Serge Ibaka, who didn’t hit. After a floater by George Hill it was a one-possession game at the end of the third quarter, a threesome by J.R.Smth even set to 98:99 from the Cavs’ point of view.

Cleveland now stayed hot from outside, Smith sprinkled in some very long deuces, but the Raptors profited again and again from mental dropouts of the Cavs in the defense. Six minutes before the end, a dunk from LeBron to Drive against Pöltl equalized the game after eternities (112:112). The hosts now had the momentum, even stops were made. Siakam shortened 53 seconds before the end to a counter with a powerful dunk, but after a dreamlike LeBron pass Love countered from the corner (128:124).

DeRozan then hit his free throws after LeBron fouled the shooting guard off the ball. Kevin Love left the door open for the guests 15 seconds before the end because he missed a freebie. Toronto took the fast double with DeRozan, but James showed himself to be a clutch and made three of four free throws. With the buzzer DeRozan could have forced another overtime, but his well defended attempt missed the target clearly.

James was once again the man of the evening. The forward scored 35 points (11/19 FG, 12/14 FT), 7 rebounds and 17 assists. Love (23, 12 rebounds) and Hill (22, 10/11 FG) profited from his templates. As so often the backcourt around Lowry (24, 6/9 three, 7 assists) and DeRozan convinced Toronto. In addition, the reservists Pöltl (17, 8 rebounds, 7 offensive), VanVleet (16) and Delon Wright (12) also showed good performances.

Cleveland Cavaliers (42-29) vs. Toronto Raptors (53-19) 132:129 (BOXSCORE)

LeBron James. 17 assists, 0 turnovers. Such a statline had not yet set up a forward in the history of the NBA. His Drives passes were a feast for the eyes. Above all Love benefited enormously with four turned threesomes. Not a single loss in the difficulty of his passes was all the more impressive. In the first race Siakam did a good job against James, in the fourth quarter the King dominated as usual.

Serge Ibaka. It remains the weak point of the otherwise homogeneous Raptors team. In the second half the Cavs left the Congolese at the perimeter and begged him to throw. He did it and hit nothing (0/4). After all, he showed a little mobility against Love. On the other hand, his foul against LeBron in crunchtime was very clumsy. Only with a lot of luck this wasn’t four-point play for James.

Coach Casey showed great confidence in his youngsters. Besides VanVleet and Siakam, Pöltl was also allowed to prove himself in the fourth quarter. The Austrian had especially good attacking moments, when he occupied the free space and could use light dunks. In the defense he was partly switcht against LeBron, that was of course not optimal. The Cavs took advantage of this and could now score more, only just three minutes before the end the Raptors coach brought Ibaka back. Valanciunas, on the other hand, stewed almost the entire final quarter.