Cleveland, Ohio - The Cavs, behind Donovan Mitchell’s 26 points, beat the Toronto Raptors 122-108.
The Cavs hosted the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, November 24, 2024, in their second matchup of the season. The Cavs defeated the Raptors in their season opener 136-130.
The Cavs, still dealing with injuries, went into this matchup without Caris LeVert (knee) and Dean Wade (ankle).
After the Wine and Gold won the opening tip, the Cavs jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead. Jarrett Allen scored 4 of those first 7 points as he led the Cavs in scoring with 12 first-quarter points and 3 rebounds.
The Cavaliers played a fairly clean quarter, only turning over the ball once and committing two personal fouls.
Your opening quarter co-star was Ty Jerome. Off the bench, he scored 10 points while nailing 50% of his 3-pointers. The Cavs' shooting hand remained hot, as they shot 65% from the floor and 67% from behind the arc.
Donovan Mitchell spoke on how Jerome’s journey to come back from injury is a testament to his preparation and dedication and that he’s not surprised by how well Jerome has been playing.
“When you go through that and you play what, two minutes, three minutes, one game, two games throughout the season, to come back, not really know where you might fit in the group 'cause we bring everybody back and then to come in there and just assert himself and be the guy who we all thought he can be, that takes a level of mental fortitude. And it shows a level of hard work and preparation and dedication to the game. He comes in, he's on time, he's preparing the right way, he's taking care of his body and when you go through an injury like that, it can sometimes take away the joy, the love, it can kind of push you mentally. But for him to come back, not only be a solid player, but be dominant, you know what I mean, and a special player for us. I think that's truly impressive is just him continuing to not only get better but take care of himself, you know what I mean, and help the group.”
Jerome finished the game with 26 points, 5 assists, 4 steals, and 3 rebounds. During postgame availability, Cavs Coach Kenny Atkinson expressed that his teams' depth has been their biggest strength.
“I mean, we're deep. That's probably our biggest strength. But we're deep, and we've needed it these last couple [of] games with some injuries. But I thought [with] Donovan they were physical. They're a tough team to play. They're really physical on the ball. So I thought Donovan kind of settled us down when they were getting into us. And Ty had another good game, and we got so many guys that can do it. It's hard to hard to stop.”
The Cavs blew the quarter open when they turned up the intensity on defense. On back-to-back possessions, Evan Mobley blocked a Raptor player shot the first resulted in a Mobley dunk, and the next led to a Sam Merrill 3 to give the Cavs a 38-22 lead to end the quarter.
The 2nd quarter saw the Cavs run into foul and turnover issues that saw the 16 point lead they built brought down to as low as 4 with under 4 minutes until halftime.
The Raptors attacked the Cavs' defense, generating 12 free throw attempts, making 10 of them. The Raptors also caused 6 Cavalier turnovers, only resulting in 7 Raptors points.
The Cavs bench mob usually is the standout second unit. That was not the case in the 2nd quarter. The Raptors bench outscored the Cavs bench 18-9 in the 2nd quarter.
With the Cavs leading 57-53, Donovan Mitchell nailed a 3 to push the lead back to 6.
Then, following a Darius Garland floater, Ty Jerome nailed a 28-foot 3-pointer to give the Cavs a 10 lead going into halftime.
The beginning of the 2nd half turned into the Darius Garland show. Garland had 8 points and 2 assists over the first 6 minutes of the quarter and hit timely shots to give the Cavs plenty of breathing room, keeping the lead above double digits.
Despite Garland's offensive assault, the Raptors outscored the Cavs 11-4 over the final four minutes of the quarter. Thanks to a Jamal Shead 3, the Raptors whittled the deficit to three, 92-89. The Raptors also made the most of the Cavaliers' mistakes, scoring 7 points from their five turnovers.
The Cavs also couldn’t escape their fouling issues again. The Raptors couldn’t convert all their trips to points, as they only made 5/10 free throws in the quarter.
The Raptors finished with 34 free throw attempts. Coach Atkinson liked his team's defense but admits they’re undisciplined sometimes.
“Good, except for the fouling. I think it wasn't the referee's fault. We're like 27th in the league in fouling on drives, and I kept telling the guys that during timeouts, we’ve got to get our hands out of there, we reach too much, a little bit undisciplined there. It's an issue right now and we’ve got to address it. But otherwise, I thought it was pretty good. We mixed in some zone. We know three-point shooting isn’t their strength. But I thought our two big guys were great again. Jarrett and Evan, even when you make a mistake, they clean stuff up.”
“I mean, we're a good defensive team. There are games like this. I think we got a little sloppy with sticking our hand in there, but we're solid. I thought Ice (Isaac Okoro) was great. I thought Ice was really good tonight. Really good job on [RJ] Barrett. And then Scottie Barnes, you take the free throws away, I thought we did a good job on him. They're the two main forces. Overall, I give us a ‘B’ defensively. Could have been an ‘A’ if we didn't put him on the line 34 times.”
Sticking on the topic of free throws, the Cavs only shot 14 free throws compared to the Raptors 34. Donovan Mitchell acknowledged after he pointed out the Cavs' free throw disparity that the NBA spared him he wasn’t so sure this time when he leveled his criticism for the Cavs' lack of calls.
“They gave me a pass on the first one. The league gave me a pass on my first little rant. So, I'm going to tone this one down. No, to answer your question. We've got to play through physicality and let the refs make the calls at some point in time, but I told the guys with about six, seven minutes, whatever timeout that was, stop worrying about it. Know what I mean? We're not going to get the calls. Let's play through it. Finish through contact. And we ended the game on the run. But I'm not going to go out there. I don't think any of us should go out there expecting it. I mean, DG had zero. I only had a tech free throw, so don't expect it and be happy when we get one.”
The Cavs took a 96-90 lead into the final quarter. Donovan Mitchell, who was fairly quiet with 15 points entering the quarter, scored on three straight possessions, tallying 8 points within the first 2 minutes. Then Mr 6th Man himself, Ty Jerome, walked into a 3-pointer to put the Cavs up 106-91.
Later, after Raptor Scottie Barnes took a hard foul in the middle of them trying to make a comeback (he stayed in the game), Ty Jerome sent two defenders passing by him with a pump fake behind the 3-point line and dropped a floater to give the Cavs a 114-100 lead. Donovan Mitchell dished to Jarrett Allen a few possessions later, who threw an ally oop to Mobley to extend the Cavs lead to 15 118–113.
With the game in hand, Coach Kenny Atkinson pulled his guys off the floor so the crowd could give them a standing ovation as the Cavs started a new winning streak by beating the Raptors 122-108.
Jarrett Allen finished with 23 points and 13 rebounds, said he wasn’t surprised by the way the team is playing, but to be 17-1 is a little surprising.
“I'm surprised by the number, you know, but I'm not surprised by the play style that we're doing. I have expected us to come out and play like we do, and play at a high level, but still, 17 and one is incredible”
Donovan Mitchell also didn’t see a 17-1 record in the Cavs future back in training camp, but he knows the Cavs have set the floor for what their expectations are for the 24-25 season.
“I won't say I came into camp thinking it would be 17-1, but I saw this, the way we're playing, as it was going to happen. It's a matter of when. I think that's what's least surprising is I knew we could get to this level of play, and sometimes when you have a younger group, but I mean obviously we've been together, but it takes time. You know what I mean? But for us, it's clicking right away, and now you kind screw yourself. Now it's like this is what we've got to be at. You kind put that pressure on ourselves and this is what we are. This is our floor. This is the beginning of the year. By April, we should be better, 10 times better than what we are now. That's why I think to answer your question, no, did I think we'd be 17-1? But I saw this as the potential that we can definitely get to. And now that we're here, we have to stay here. We're obviously going to have lapses and things like that, but how do we continue to build off of this? But I had no doubt that we'd be this team. It's just a matter of when. And, man, it's great to start out 17-1 for sure.”
The Cavs play the Atlanta Hawks next in Atlanta on November 27, 2024.