The last loss before Saturday night was in Game 3 of Cleveland’s second-round series against the Chicago Bulls previous year. “I thought we played with force”.
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And after tasting defeat for the first time in the postseason, Cleveland should come out locked, loaded and focused Monday as it seeks to capture a 3-1 series lead and head back to Northeast Ohio with a chance to close out the Raptors.
I suppose we’ll find out soon enough. “When we play like this, good things happen”. They were more aggressive, they were more physical, they were more active and they were faster. He gets killed on that play.
“He had, at one point, 14 rebounds and no points”. He finished with 7 points, 26 rebounds, and 4 blocks.
“Kyle did not walk out on his team”, Casey said. “He’s just kind of the spirit of our team”. “He came out and played well”, Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said. Nothing was going right – shots weren’t falling, the calls weren’t going their way – and they fell apart.
“It was wonderful”, DeRozan said. “There has to be some consistency”.
“He’s one of the top rebounders in the league, and no telling how many times he gets hit and fouled under there without being called”.
“This is the game that really builds the character of our team”, Irving said. He totaled 24 points on 9-for-17 shooting, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals, while Love and Irving had their disappearing act.
JR Smith added 22 points and Kyrie Irving ended with 13 in the defeat for the Cavs, who had their 10-game winning streak in the playoffs this season ended.
“First of all give a lot of credit to Toronto”, James said. “I’ve had several conversations with him, especially defensively, how he was able to impact the game, and of course once he gave me permission to use his finger wag, then I guess I just want to leave his legacy and make sure that I show him some love”.
It was James’ 15th play-off triple-double, secured when he ran down rebound No. 10 with 8:01 left.
DeMar DeRozan carried the load for Toronto in Game 2, scoring a team-best 22 points, while Kyle Lowry added six boards.
Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James has a shot blocked by Toronto Raptors center Bismack Biyombo. The points in the paint – so one-sided in the first two losses in Cleveland – went the Raptors way 36-20. It wasn’t even a Raptors player who hit LeBron: It was his own teammate, Tristan Thompson.
“We shot zero free throws in the fourth quarter, zero”, an astonished Casey said after the game.
The Cavaliers pulled within 70-65 late in the third period, but the Raptors extended their margin to 80-70 entering the fourth quarter on a 3-point buzzer beater by Joseph and stayed in command to the end. It was the first time in nine quarters this series that the Raptors had outscored the Cavaliers.
Toronto shrugged off the fatigue of what’s been a gruelling post-season schedule and painstakingly put together an 18-point by the second quarter.
Carroll was assessed a technical foul as from certain angles it looks like he was the one who made contact with James, not Thompson.
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Matthew Dellavedova played after suffering a sprained left ankle in Game 2. Biyombo’s defensive presence and energy helped change the momentum of the series and will likely draw a response from Cleveland beyond the low blow that Dahntay Jones snuck in during the final minute of Saturday’s game. “We’re down 2-0 but we haven’t played on our home floor yet”.
