Kasler: Cavs get away with another win
The Cavaliers played a sloppy game with brief intermittent periods of focus and still managed to beat arguably the second-best team in the Eastern Conference.
Final score: Cavs 121, Raptors 117 on Tuesday at Quicken Loans Arena.
The season is young, but this game had to be disheartening for the Raptors. They played an aggressive and efficient game punctuated by a scorching (for them) 13-of-29 from 3-point range, but ultimately were just not good enough.
More thoughts below:
1. J.R. Smith sat out his second straight game. DeMarre Carroll sat for the Raps, so each team was shorthanded. Given the Cavs' relative lack of depth in the backcourt, I'd offer that missing Smith hurt the Cavs more than missing Carroll hurt Toronto.
2. Dwane Casey needs to relax. I don’t watch every Raptors game but man, he is irate in perpetuity. Maybe it’s only against the Cavs, and I get that every head coach has their own style. But he spends a lot of time just being dissatisfied.
THE GOOD
1. Tristan Thompson. This may have been TT’s best game. He notched 15 points on 7-of-8 from the field and was the recipient of a number of slick pocket passes in the land. He also pulled down 11 rebounds. And finally, not known as a rim protector, he had a great rejection of Jonas Valanciunas late in the game. Thompson’s energy is understood but perhaps underestimated in that it seems to propel the home crowd at just the right time.
2. Channing Frye. I tweeted that if Frye could have spent about five more seasons playing with LeBron James, he would be Hall of Fame bound. I was half kidding. He was awesome again with 21 points on 5-of-8 shooting from deep. What an incredible addition he has proven to be.
3. James. 28 points, 14 assists, nine rebounds.
4. Defending DeMar DeRozan. Though DeRozan ended with 26 points, he needed 27 shots to get there. He missed some at the rim that were reasonably contested. He's a great player but if he has a weakness, it's that he periodically seems more interested in drawing a foul than making a shot. He got a few questionable calls but not enough to make up for 10-of-27 from the field. The Cavs rarely lost track of DeRozan.
5. Mike Dunleavy. His line is rather unremarkable -- five points on 2-of-2 from the field, two assists and two rebounds in 19 minutes -- but the fact he knocked down two shots is worth noting. Dunleavy has shot poorly in recent games. Making a few may be the catalyst he needs for more productivity.
6. Ty Lue’s late play after a timeout. With the game still undecided and less than 2 minutes remaining, Lue drew up a beautiful play out of a timeout. The result was a lob from Kevin Love to James using a high pick to get free under the bucket for an easy two.
THE BAD
1. Turnovers. The Cavs had 17. That’s bad, not horrible, but probably seems worse because the Raptors only had eight. What's more concerning is that many of those turnovers were the result of sloppy, unfocused play. Didn't matter in the end, but worth watching.
2. Fastbreak points. The Raptors had 25 points in transition. The Cavs had just seven. This spirals into a few dark places -- effort in transition (the Raptors gave it, the Cavs didn’t) and pace (the Raptors relentlessly pushed the ball, the Cavs plodded more often than not). It's perverse logic, but the victory may have had unintended consequences insofar as it blots out the Cavs' weak effort in transition defense and inability to push the ball for easy buckets at the offensive end.
3. Focus. This one is a bit duplicative of the previous entry, but the Raptors played a much more focused game than the Cavs. It's a testament to the Cavs' greatness that they can win games against one of the NBA's best without focusing for large swaths of the contest.
4. Officiating. This game was entertaining and well-officiated for about 44 minutes. Then, around the 4-minute mark of the fourth quarter, the refs lost their way. A few weird calls against both teams, a long pause to review an offensive foul on James and then a goaltending call that was clearly wrong and ultimately reversed. Give NBA refs enough time, and they will usually find a way to leave their smudged fingerprints on the game.
The Cavs have little time enjoy this hard fought win as they travel to Indianapolis to take on a talented-but-still finding-its-way Pacers club Wednesday evening.
