National Basketball Association

Cleveland Cavaliers Edge Past The Toronto Raptors

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Cleveland Cavaliers edged past the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.

In what was a close game at the end, the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Toronto Raptors in their first meeting since the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Cavs didn’t dominate the Raptors like they did in the final two meetings of that series with LeBron James coasting through most of Friday’s game. However, it was evident when watching the Cavs that James can afford to coast through the regular season.

Kyrie Irving was spectacular in this game. Ahead of Friday night’s contest, Coach Lue said that he doesn’t feel like anyone can stop Irving in the pick and roll. Because of that, and Irving’s general wizardry with the ball, Irving is Cleveland’s designated scorer. Two games into the season, Irving is averaging more points, minutes and shot-attempts per game than he has since James’ return.

Friday night, Irving shot the ball with as much touch as confidence. Plays like this, attacks in isolation that few in the NBA can pull off, prove Lue is right to have faith in Irving’s ability to score on any player one-on-one.

James coasted through most of this game, which was mentioned earlier. However, he only seemed to be coasting in the scoring department. Though James finished the game with only 7 assists, he was intent on passing the ball to open shooters all night. The Cavs, who went 12-32 from three-point range on Friday night, just didn’t have the touch from deep tonight.

James still finished with 21 points through sheer virtue of being the best player in the world but he still took a few ill-advised jumpers this game that could have been pump-fakes and drives to the lane.

Where James was most intent on making an impact was on the defensive end. While James didn’t create any turnovers, he held forwards DeMarre Carroll and Terrence Ross to a combined 2-9 from the field. In the paint, James was outstanding as the Cavs last line of defense and the Raptors were 2-11 when attacking the rim if James was there. James could very well be trying to win a Defensive Player of the Year Award and giving Irving the NBA’s regular season MVP.

In the starting lineup, Tristan Thompson provided his usual brand of hustle and defense and

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finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds in 36 minutes. 3 of those rebounds were offensive. Defensively, Thompson helped hold Jonas Valanciunas to 5-15 shooting from the field. Thompson also had a block. While Thompson didn’t show off any of his new post moves or scoring range,he went 5-5 from the field as he consistently rolled to the rim and finished with ferocity in close.

In what was a mixed bag of a game, J.R. Smith took a number of ill-advised shots and seemed to go against the grain of heavy ball-movement. While the rest of the Cavs made the extra pass, Smith sometimes took a very difficult three instead of passing the ball. Smith can knock down contested threes like few others can. Nonetheless, he should be fitting within the team identity and passing up bad shots for good ones.

He attacked the rim a couple of times this game and athletically looked like a player who didn’t miss the whole summer in a contract holdout. However, he was one step slower than his teammates and the fact that his conditioning level isn’t the same as the other Cavs attributed to his failure to stick with DeMar Derozan. While Derozan is one of the premier scorers in the league, Smith consistently lost Derozan and was a big reason the Raptors shooting guard had 32 points.

In what was another surprising move, the Cavs only really played three players from the bench. Mike Dunleavy Jr., Richard Jefferson and Iman Shumpert went a combined 2-12 from the field and 1-5 from three-point range in what was a horrific shooting night. However, the trio made a few heady plays and played solid defense.

Kay Felder, Jordan McRae and Chris Andersen stayed on the bench. Channing Frye is out indefinitely as he deals with the tragic loss of his mother. Simply put, the Cavs second unit didn’t have many scoring options. Yet, it’s nice to know that the Cavs didn’t need the bench to score despite the late surge from Toronto.

This game served as another example of the dominance the NBA should expect from the Cleveland Cavaliers. They look like they could be the best team in the NBA early on in the season. It’s a small sample size but it’s a good sign.

What did you think of the Cleveland Cavaliers performance against the Toronto Raptors? Let us know in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.

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