Mitchell and Jerome lead Cavs to 122-108 victory over Raptors
The Cavs keep the Raptors at arm’s length for their 17th win of the season.
The Cleveland Cavaliers ended up with a 122-108 win, but it seemed like the margin would be much wider than that early on. The offense came out of the gates hot as they pushed the lead to 16 over the Toronto Raptors in the first quarter. They maintained that advantage until midway through the third when things started to get away from them.
The defense has been an issue at times this season. Against the Boston Celtics, they could not contest the three-point line. Tonight, it was their poor defensive rebounding.
Toronto grabbed 19 offensive boards. Many of these came at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth when they cut the deficit to six. But as has been the case throughout the season, the offense was there to pick up the slack. More specifically, Ty Jerome and Donovan Mitchell were.
Mitchell responded with seven quick points in three straight possessions to help the Cavs right the ship at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Jerome then buried a triple to push the lead back to 15. Toronto was never able to come within shouting distance from there.
It should be noted that this isn’t the same Raptors team the Cavs faced last month.
“Oh man, [they’re] a much better than we faced in game one,” Kenny Atkinson said.
That much is clear by how they took the Celtics to overtime last week and their recent wins over the Indiana Pacers and Minnesota Timberwolves. Still, this wasn’t a perfect game.
Cleveland’s offense was boosted once again by their incredible outside shooting. They went 16-41 (39%) from beyond the arc which masked some of their inability to finish at the rim at the rate that you’d like them to. That said, it’s difficult to complain too much after a 14-point win.
The Cavs were led by Jerome who continues to be arguably the best bench player in the league. He continually knifed through the defense in the halfcourt and created steals on the other end to give the Cavs an advantage. Jerome had another outstanding night as he finished with 26 points and 5 assists on 9-14 shooting.
Mitchell saved his best for the fourth quarter. He scored 11 of his 26 points in the final frame.
Jarrett Allen continued his impressive response from a down game against Boston. He aggressively attacked Toronto’s smaller front line en route to a 23-point and 13-rebound outing.
The Cavaliers continue to be one of the best teams in the league. Although this wasn’t their best game, it was enough to win comfortably and push their league-best record to 17-1.