There’s nothing better than having the best seat in the house to watch greatness unfold, and DeMar DeRozan loved his view of one of the best Toronto Raptor performances of the era. There’s a clear opening for that to change this year, with Toronto running a clear second to the Cleveland Cavaliers and, as of now, have to be considered the favorites to face LeBron James and Co.in the Eastern Conference finals.
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Despite leading for nearly the entire game, Cleveland faltered down the stretch, allowing Toronto to tie the score with 3:03 left courtesy of a 9-0 run over 90 seconds.
Cleveland bounced back nicely from a surprising home loss to Detroit with a 114-103 win and cover against Charlotte on Wednesday, bringing the team’s record to 6-1 SU and 4-3 ATS over its last seven games.
Chandler Parsons led the Mavericks with 27 points, including 15 in the third-quarter rally, while Dirk Nowitzki had 20 points and 13 rebounds.
Wiggins scored Minnesota’s first five points of the game as the T’Wolves raced out to a nine-point lead.
On the season, the Raptors average 102.4 points, 43.4 rebounds and 18.6 assists per game. Bismack Biyombo chipped in with 11 points.
Lowry’s 3-pointer put Toronto ahead 78-75.
It was an impressive night for the Raptors point guard who really didn’t have a ton of support offensively.
Lowry’s three-pointer put the Raptors back in front. The game was tied at 15 and 17 before Cleveland went on a 14-4 surge to lead 31-21 after the first quarter.
There was, at the opening of the 2013-14 season, a decent argument that the best thing the Raptors could do was blow up the roster, lose games by the bushel, and hope the draft lottery balls somehow managed to give them a shot at Andrew Wiggins, the Toronto-area kid with the superstar potential. He leads the team in scoring, assists, shooting percentage and steals, but it remains uncertain whether or not the rest of his team can do enough to get this team to their goal of winning an NBA Championship for the city of Cleveland.
Not used to playing with teammates like small forward LeBron James and point guard Kyrie Irving, who have an ability to attract multiple defenders in the lane, Frye had to adjust to taking wide-open shots rather than forcing up contested attempts, as he has had to do in the past.
In the Cleveland dressing room, Love disagreed about the importance of the game. The lead reached nine points before the Timberwolves moved to within five points when Dieng made his free throw to complete a 3-point play. This team is acutely aware they’ve had regular season success the past two seasons, and while this is an entirely different team, their success won’t be measured by the final standings. Casey and Lowry both want the practice facility at the Air Canada Centre to remain for its game-day benefits, and Casey confirmed that shootarounds will continue at the ACC for the foreseeable future.
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With the win, the Raptors registered their ninth straight home game victory and improved to 20-6 at Toronto this season. Action begins at 7:30 pm ET on Friday, Feb. 26 and can be seen on FxO and SNT.
