Toronto’s Anthony Bennett had 11 points against the team that drafted him. “When the regular season starts it’s a whole different grind, but it’s a good starting point, for sure”.
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“Tomorrow I assume that I’ll play more”, Love said.
Love had six points and two rebounds in a 6 ½-minute stint in the opening quarter, converting both free throws after he was fouled by Luis Scola, and connecting on two of three jump shots. The Cavaliers played without Kyrie Irving as he continues to recover from his fractured knee cap.
LeBron James and Richard Jefferson (rest) did not play for the Cavaliers (0-6). I think we tried to ease our way into games, and we just can’t do that. “It’s tough. We all know how important Tristan was to us a year ago and we hope he comes back soon”. His only miss was from 3-point range.
But until he’s back the Cavaliers will carry on, business as usual, confident that they can get where they want to go when their injuries heal, and confident that time is on their side. Once again Toronto’s second unit, led by Cory Joseph, shone as they helped the Raptors turn around a four-point deficit after 36 minutes by winning the fourth quarter 27-17, with Joseph scoring 11 points and dishing six assists in just over 20 minutes of floor time, while fellow newcomer Bismack Biyombo anchored the defence, grabbing 10 rebounds, blocking two shots and threatening countless others.
Kevin Love has successfully passed his first litmus test after returning to action Sunday night.
“I did not realize that that’s what he added to his repertoire”, Blatt joked.
Now hear me out on this, I think any legitimate Raptors fan who follows the National Basketball Association knows the difference between a “star” and “superstar”. It was Love’s first game action since he suffered a dislocated shoulder in game four of the Cavaliers first round playoff series against the Boston Celtics last April.
Love underwent surgery three days later, while Olynyk was meted with a suspension for the first game of the 2015-16 season. Scola started alongside Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas and DeMarre Carroll in this game and looked active, hitting jumpers in rhythm and findng Jonas Valanciunas down low on a nice high low feed in the first quarter.
Love opted out of the final year of his contract to become a free agent, but returned to Cleveland by signing a five-year, $113.2 million contract in July. He really, really worked hard, Kevin, since the time of the injury and since the time of the contract. “You can see it on his body, you can see it on the way he moves”.
“The problem past year going small wasn’t Kyle, it was the other small guys with him”, Casey said. A section of the ACC broke into a spontaneous “Let’s go Blue Jays!” chant.
Cleveland hosts Dallas on Monday night.
The Raptors have had the opposite experience as their pre-season comes to an end, their last exhibition contest coming this Friday against the Washington Wizards in Montreal.
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The Cavaliers and Raptors on Sunday provided the latest in a long line of evidence that the NBA’s exhibition schedule is too long, struggling through a game that didn’t have much in the way of aesthetic appeal.
