The Cavs lucked out tonight as VanVleet, Flynn, and Anunoby were all out. However, we lost Allen early and had to struggle to win. Mobley stepped up after a couple of nearly invisible games with 20 pts, 17 boards, and 4 assists. Markkanen had 20 pts and 12 rebounds while Love and Cedi were both +19 off the bench.
The Cavs turned it over 17 times to only 7 for Toronto, but got lucky again in that the Raptors could not make their 3-pointers (25%) and also missed 10 free throws. The Raptors were 2-for-18 on 3's after three quarters but went 4-for-6 in the 4th to make it close. Chris Boucher has the oddest looking stroke but he hit three 3's from the same corner.
The Cavs gave up a ridiculous 7 offensive rebounds in the first quarter but pulled it together and gave up only 7 more the rest of the game. Mobley had a lot to do with that. But committing 17 turnovers and allowing 14 offensive rebounds they were fortunate to win, especially with Allen only playing 10 minutes. He was on his way to a big game with 6 points and 2 blocks in those 10 minutes.
The Cavs gave up an 11-0 run early in the 3rd quarter but turned it around and go the lead back to 11 to start the 4th. The bench and Mobley did a nice job to maintain the lead while the starters rested.
Cedi had two 3's that hit the rim, the glass, the rim, and went in. He also had a layup where he lost the ball and it hit a Raptor on his arm and bounced into the basket. Just a lucky night for the Cavs, except for the Allen injury. Hopefully he won't be out long.
The Raptors bench scored only 8 points in 56 minutes while the Cavs' bench scored 37.
After scoring 22 points two nights ago Okoro was back to his normal self with 2 points in 22 minutes, going 1-for-7 from the field. The Cavs were -14 in those 22 minutes.
Very big win as they now have the tiebreaker over Toronto and are 3 games ahead of them as the Cavs try to stay in the top six. But it came at a huge cost as Allen is out indefinitely with a fractured finger, maybe for the season.
