Raptors make statement with blowout win over Cavaliers

Rudi Schuller

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Raptors make statement with blowout win over Cavaliers image

The Toronto Raptors announced themselves as an Eastern Conference force with a dominant 133-99 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night at the Air Canada Centre.

Led by a breakout performance by Fred VanVleet and a balanced attack that saw seven Raptors score in double figures, Toronto jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Making the victory more impressive was that the Raptors were missing starters Kyle Lowry (back) and Serge Ibaka (suspension), and team-leading scorer DeMar DeRozan had an off night.

VanVleet led the Raptors with 22 points, while C.J. Miles and Pascal Siakam had 16 apiece. Cleveland superstar LeBron James led all scorers with 26 points, but none of his teammates could find an offensive groove in the face of a suffocating Toronto defensive stance.

The victory gives Toronto (29-11) its best 40-game start in franchise history.

Here are some takeaways from the Raptors victory over the Cavaliers:

DeMar Defended

With both Lowry and Ibaka out, the Cavaliers focused much of their attention on DeRozan. Cleveland may well have done so anyway given the 28-year-old's torrid form over the past six weeks, but it was clear that the visitors were going to double up on their coverage of Toronto's talisman all night long.

The plan worked — DeRozan was just 1-for-6 from the field in the first half for two points.

What Cleveland couldn't account for was DeRozan's uptick in passing, as the Compton, Calif., native stepped up in Lowry's absence and dished a game-high eight assists.

The balanced Toronto scoring helped take the pressure off him, but DeRozan had a trademark third-quarter surge — including 3-for-3 from three-point range — and finished with a respectable 13 points.

Depth shines

While DeRozan struggled to find an offensive groove in the first half, Toronto's second unit dominated the slower Cavaliers.

VanVleet and Siakam each had double-figures in scoring in the first 24 minutes to go along with Miles' 10 points in the opening half. Miles is regularly part of the second unit but was in Dwane Casey's starting lineup due to the absences of Lowry and Ibaka.

As impressive as Toronto's bench scoring was in the first half, it was the defence that really stifled Cleveland and allowed the Raptors to jump out to a 25-point halftime lead.

Led by Jakob Poetl's seven rebounds and three blocks in the opening 24 minutes, Toronto's bench players put the Cavaliers to the sword in the early-going and kept the pressure on for the duration of the game.

Poetl ended the game with 12 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks in 25.32 of play.

JV on TNT

If Poeltl's presence on the glass proved to be too much for the Cavs to handle, then Valanciunas was an absolute nightmare for Cleveland.

The Raptors big man hauled down 14 rebounds in the first half alone, and he was equally effective on the offensive end.

Valanciunas ended the night with a whopping 18 rebounds in just 18:38, with 15 points and an assist thrown in for good measure.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Prior to the game, Toronto president Masai Ujiri lamented his team's the lack of visibility in the United States.

Calling the Raptors' lack of U.S. national TV games "a bunch of B.S.," Ujiri has repeatedly stated that his team — currently second in the East and a perennial playoff participant during his tenure  — suffers from a lack of respect stateside.

With the James-led Cavs in town, Toronto put on a show in its first U.S. national broadcast of the season. And while the Raptors are the only team in the league to enjoy a full slate of nationally televised games — all 82 Toronto regular season games and all of the team's playoff contests are shown Canada-wide — the organization surely had a point to prove.

Rudi Schuller