After swallowing a fiasco and a hasty road trip, the raptors, who ranked seventh in the East, returned home and ushered in the challenge of the cavaliers, who ranked sixth in the East.
On the Raptors side, Anunoby returned from the line of fire, trying to bring more help to Siakam + VanVleet, leading the team to defend the home court to save face.
On the other hand, the Cavaliers, this away battle, the team manager took the initiative to change the lineup, Le Fu entered the starting lineup, the Cavaliers are also ready to win by surprise, and take the victory on the road!
However, after four quarters of competition, with a wave of 15-0 scoring climax, the Raptors, who played at home, easily suppressed the Cavaliers in the first half and achieved a double-digit lead.
Although after returning from the second half, Mobley + Garland + Lefour felt hot in the third quarter and led the Cavaliers to a 13-6 counter-attack attack, successfully narrowing the point difference to single digits and preserving the suspense of the game.
But helplessly in the final quarter of the decisive moment, Siakam + VanVleet ushered in an outbreak, the Raptors took the opportunity to take advantage, in one fell swoop to establish a 13-point lead, and the Cavaliers could not catch up with the points, only to lose.
In the end, the Raptors also beat the Cavaliers 117-104 at home, winning a 13-point victory at the same time, but also gave the opponent Cavaliers a 2-game losing streak!
Playing at home in this game, the Raptors swept away the slump of the previous game, played a 6-man scoring double-double, all-staff team performance, and won a 13-point victory.
In the case of vanVleet + Anunoby + Achuva + Barnes and other main players, each performing their duties, the team's main player Siakam, and the play of Boucher on the bench, is particularly critical!
In this game, Siakam was full of firepower, starting 31 minutes, shooting 60% of the 12-of-20 shooting, and shooting 6 three-pointers from the outside, bombing a game-high 35 points, plus 5 rebounds and 6 assists.
Among them, his heroic performance in the last quarter, 4 shots and 4 bullets without false hair ushered in the rampage, not only provided a powerful firepower for the Raptors, but also almost single-handedly ended the suspense of the game!
Of course, the Raptors were able to beat the Cavaliers in this game, and boucher's performance on the bench was also indispensable.
In this campaign, Boucher was ordered to play 32 minutes off the bench, shooting 2 three-pointers on 6-of-12 shooting, contributing 17 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals, and there was no personal error.
And in the second quarter, he suddenly shot a key play of 11 points in a single quarter, which not only helped the Raptors quickly open up the point difference, but also successfully affected the trend of the game!
More importantly, after defeating the Cavaliers in this game, the Raptors' regular season record has also improved to 41 wins and 32 losses, and in terms of record and win gap, it has officially equaled the Cavaliers ranked sixth in the East.
Rationally speaking, judging from the current momentum of the two teams, in the next schedule, the Raptors do have a great chance to surpass the Cavaliers and launch an attack on the sixth place in the East!
On the other hand, on the Cavaliers side, the team was completely suppressed at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends of this game, and finally swallowed the performance of the game of 13 points rout + 2 consecutive defeats, which obviously needs to be examined.
After all, under the comprehensive performance of Garland + Markkanen, who played well, scoring 18+3+10 and 20+5+1+1 respectively, the sluggish performance of Okoro + Ottoman in 12 shots in this campaign was indeed a bit unsatisfactory!
In the face of the completely violent Siakam, as well as the Raptors who blossomed at multiple points, Garland + Markkanen, who worked hard for a whole game but did not return, seemed to have no choice but to accept the reality of losing.
Obviously, for the Raptors, who have lost 2 consecutive games, whether the team can retain the sixth position in the East in the next few schedules, its prospects and situation are indeed not optimistic!