DeRozan had a strong performance, scoring 20 points on the night. When Drake did his annual media scrum, with most of the questions this year focused on his (possibly intentionally) bad dancing in the video, it was held outside of the booth. He’s known to be a huge fan of Drake.
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“Cleveland is a good team, but when they come in here, they feel like we are the tough ones and that’s what we want to accomplish as the definition of the Toronto Raptors”.
“It’s all mindset”, James said after the game, still visibly frustrated.
The Raptors were resplendent in black and gold, new alternate uniforms designed in part by Drake, hometown superstar and celebrity mascot.
Delon Wright made his 905 debut on Wednesday night at the Hershey Centre and quickly made the most of his opportunity and exposure. “I didn’t play well, they were the better team”.
I’d be remiss not to mention Luis Scola, the savvy veteran who continues to seem to have the ability to buoy the team offensively when they need him to.
So, yes, much branding.
The Raptors took an 82-80 lead into the fourth.
The win brings Toronto just 1 ½ games behind Cleveland for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Don’t get me wrong – the giveaways are pretty cool and the festivities inject a buzz in the arena that might remain unmatched for the rest of the regular season. The Raptors aim for a fourth straight win traveling to take on the Washington Wizards on Saturday. Instead, he buttressed the foundation. “That’s what he does”, said DeMar DeRozan after the game. He thought the rotations were off and the Cavs allowed too many and-ones.
The Cavaliers (11-4) are dealing with several injuries and a busy schedule. LeBron is the best player on the best team in the East, that isn’t expected to change in the foreseeable future but, at least for one night, the Raptors looked like they belonged. It looks great when it works – as it did to keep the game close – but for the tight first half, and stretches of the second, the Raptors fell back to some disquieting habits. All of that was thrown around as possible reasons for this loss, but LeBron James was having none of it. Lowry’s execution working the high pick and roll with Biyombo sealed the game for the Raptors in the final minutes as Cleveland was able to score, but unable to stop Lowry and Biyombo from doing the same to chip into the Raptor’s lead.
Okay, so that nickname hasn’t caught on and probably (and hopefully) never will for Bismack Biyombo.
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In the end, it was indeed a statement win against James and the Cavs.
