TORONTO: Twenty-one thoughts for 21 assists in Monday’s 116-112 win over the Toronto Raptors…
1. Ending this losing streak came with a price. How high it is won’t be known until J.R. Smith gets out of the MRI tube, but he was awfully dejected as he limped out of Air Canada Centre following the end to this three-game losing streak.
2. An already thin backcourt, considering the Cavs are playing without a true backup point guard, took another blow Monday when Smith twisted his knee along the baseline following a basket. A knee that had previously given him problems buckled and Smith hobbled to the other end of the court before dropping to the floor.
3. “I just landed wrong,” Smith said. “Was just trying to shoot my normal floater and I came down on it wrong.”
4. Smith didn’t speculate as to what could be wrong, although he acknowledged he felt better leaving the arena than he did when it first happened. But he still left with a noticeable limp. He’ll return to Cleveland Tuesday for further testing, which will likely include an MRI at Cleveland Clinic. Smith resisted getting the knee scanned for the last week when it was troubling him during his deep shooting slump, but he has no choice now.
5. “I’ve got to get it done now,” he said. “I just can’t put it off no more.”
6. If Smith is out any length of time – and judging by tonight he’ll at least miss Wednesday’s game at the Knicks – coach Tyronn Lue isn’t sure yet who he’ll start. He indicated he’d like to keep the second unit together, which if true would eliminate Iman Shumpert.
7. He turned to DeAndre Liggins Monday and Liggins responded with 21 productive minutes, scoring five points and grabbing five rebounds while providing Lue the type of defensive intensity that was lacking during the three-game skid.
8. “I like the energy he brings defensively. I thought we needed that. I thought we needed the toughness he brings. Just him flying around. It may not be the right coverage all the time, but just his activity and the way he plays and how he plays hard, it’s big for us. He made a big 3, got a big offensive rebound that we needed. He was great for us defensively and guys kind of fed off that energy.”
9. The Cavs have already secured the tiebreaker against the Raptors for home-court advantage if it comes to that to determine the top seed in the East. That’s a blow to the Raptors, who haven’t hid the fact they’re gunning for that this season. With so many games left to play, there is still plenty of time for the Raptors to wrestle it away, but the Cavs have won the last five games between these two teams (counting the playoffs) and are responsible for three of Toronto’s seven losses this season.
10. “We have to play a perfect game to (beat) a team like that,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said.
11. A big reason for this win was the improved defensive play. The Cavs limited the Raptors to 32 points in the paint, a point of emphasis following a disastrous six games when they were allowing more than 50. Six of those 32 came in the final two minutes when the Cavs were giving up the paint to protect the 3-point line.
12. “We just wanted to emphasize shrinking the floor, making them kick it out. They made some 3s tonight and they’ve been shooting the ball well,” Lue said. “Our biggest thing is let’s protect the paint. We know they can make layups and dunks, so let’s protect the paint. I thought we did a great job of doing that.”
13. Kevin Love acknowledged Sunday’s film session and practice was a little bit different than most. He called the players “focused” both in film and on the floor and called the practice “competitive.”
14. “Film doesn’t lie. You can see exactly what’s going wrong and what we’re capable of when we do well and you can see where some of our rotations or some of our effort or getting back on defense, the little things, setting screens, whatever it is, letting guys duck in, you see that all on film,” Love said. “I think we cleaned a lot of that up tonight and I think that showed in our effort.”
15. LeBron James scored a season-high 34 points to help end the losing skid while adding eight rebounds and seven assists. James will certainly be the focal point now as this three-game road trip concludes in New York.
16. James is still stung over Phil Jackson’s “posse” comment regarding him and his associates and offered a terse “no” when asked if he’d have a discussion with the Knicks president should he want to meet.
17. “Just know how much further we still have to go and how far we still have to go as African-Americans, even in the light of today,” James said. “For me, I’ve built my career on and off the floor on the utmost respect and I’ve always given the utmost respect to everyone -- all my peers, people that’s laid the path for me and laid the path for coaches, players, things of that nature. I’ve always given respect to them and it’s always, like I told you before, it’s always shade thrown on me. It means we got a lot more work to do, myself and the team. We’ve got to continue to protect each other and continue to just be as great as we can be.”
18. James is also part of the Cavs’ contingent boycotting Trump SoHo during this stay in New York. James has been outspoken in his criticism of President-elect Donald Trump, although it's worth noting he no longer owns the hotel in SoHo. It just has his name on the front. That's enough to keep James and some others out.
19. The Cavs still aren’t getting enough help out of the supplementary players. It’s fine for the three stars to carry a heavy load, but they combined for 86 of the 116 points against the Raptors. Smith spoke recently about role players having to do a better job of supporting the Big Three. That’s still true.
20. Of all the reserves, Liggins (plus-12) was the only real bench player to end the game with a positive plus/minus. Mike Dunleavy was a plus-2, but played just seven minutes and went scoreless with an assist. Iman Shumpert was minus-12 in his 20 minutes. The Cavs still need more from their bench.
21. James played 42 minutes, while Love played 38 and Kyrie Irving played 37. Likely because of that, Lue was forced to cancel practice again Tuesday in New York. They’ll likely just hold a film session at the hotel instead. The Cavs play at the Knicks on Wednesday. Talk to you then from the Garden.
