On March 25, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued to unfold, and the East ushered in a focus battle, with the Raptors playing at home against the Cavaliers. Both teams are currently ranked sixth and seventh, which is important to both of them, and in this contest, the Raptors gained the upper hand with a 15-2 offensive wave in the first quarter, and have maintained the lead since then, while the Cavaliers have struggled to catch up and have been unable to force the point difference closer. In the end, the Raptors defeated the Cavaliers 117-104.
This game is crucial for both teams, but the Cavaliers side of Aaron is still unable to play, which still has a great impact on them. This time against the Raptors, the Cavaliers played well at first, but the latter part of the first quarter suddenly fell into a scoring drought, and was pulled apart by a wave of 15-2 attacks from the opponent, after which the Cavaliers have been passive, trailing by 10 points after halftime. In the second half, the Cavaliers continued to catch up, but did not narrow the point gap, still trailing by 8 points after the third quarter; the Raptors played steadily in the last quarter, maintaining a double-digit lead, did not give the Cavaliers the opportunity to counterattack, and the game also lost suspense.
This season, the Cavaliers' performance is still very good, and they have been ranked in the top of the East and have become the big dark horse of the NBA. Originally, they were very hopeful that they would directly advance to the playoffs, but now they are a little unstable, and the record has been chased by the Raptors behind them, and it is likely to fall to the seventh position in the East. This means that if the Cavaliers want to advance to the playoffs, they must play in the playoffs, which is a bit challenging for the younger them, and there is a good chance of collapse.
Let's take a look first, if the Cavaliers are seventh, the first time they face the Nets, the win rate is really not high; once they lose, they will face the winners of the Hornets and the Hawks, this season they will face the Hornets 2 wins and 2 losses, winning 2 games is a near win, facing the Hawks 2 wins and 1 loss, there is still one game to play. Obviously, once it falls to the playoffs, the Cavaliers have no 100% chance of winning, depending on the state of the players.
Facing the Raptors this time, the Cavaliers scored in double figures with 6 players, Garland had 18 points and 10 assists, Markkanen 20 points, Love 12 points and 10 rebounds, played well, but there was no flash point, which is why they lost.
The Raptors' side Siakam became the key to the win, facing the Cavaliers on 12-of-20 shooting, 7-of-7 three-pointers, a game-high 35 points, plus 5 rebounds and 6 assists, which is also his 40th career 30+, successfully surpassing Lowry (39 times) to rank 4th in team history. Under Siakam's leadership, the Raptors also see an opportunity to advance directly to the playoffs, and currently have a record of 41 wins and 32 losses with the Cavaliers, and are still in seventh place due to the disadvantage of the win-loss relationship (1 win and 3 losses).
With the sixth and seventh stuck in a stalemate, the East has been completely chaotic, the top four rankings cannot be determined, and the rankings of the play-off areas may change at any time, and this time the East is really good-looking.