On February 11, Beijing time, the 2023-24 NBA regular season continued, and a dialogue between the strength and weakness of the East was staged, with the Toronto Raptors hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Raptors currently have a 19-33 record, but their recent form has rebounded, winning two straight games after beating the Hornets and Rockets in a row. The Cavaliers have been on a hot streak lately, winning eight in a row, the longest winning streak currently held. The current record is 34-16, which is the second place in the East. In this game, the Raptors fought back-to-back, and the Cavaliers had one more day of rest and had a slight advantage in physical fitness.
In the first quarter of the game, the Cavaliers played steadily, and the Raptors were barely able to resist. In this section, the Cavaliers are 3 of 7 on the outside, but it is the inside that really makes the effort. The Cavaliers insisted on hitting the basket in this quarter, frequently hitting the basket to win, and got a lot of free throw opportunities, only conceded 4 shots under the basket, and scored 30 points in a single quarter; the Raptors made 4 of 9 3-pointers from the outside, but the interior encountered the Cavaliers' strong defense and frequently hit the iron; at the end of the first quarter, the Cavaliers led by 6 points at 30-24;
But in the second quarter, the Raptors couldn't resist the Cavaliers' fierce offensive, and the point difference was quickly widened! This quarter, the Cavaliers showed the strength of the strong team in the East, and the inside and outside performance were stable and strong, shooting 5 of 11 from 3-pointers, hitting the basket with damage, creating a lot of scoring opportunities, and scoring 37 points in a single quarter! Mobley Jr. scored 8 points with 3 of 3 and 2 of 2 free throws; The Raptors scored 2 of 9 from 3 of 3 points in this quarter, and the interior line also encountered the Cavaliers' strong defense and frequently hit the iron; at halftime, the Cavaliers led 72-54 to 18 points! Mitchell only scored 10 points in the half, which is the scary thing about the Cavaliers, once Mitchell exerts his strength in the second half, the score can go into garbage time at any time;
Yibian fought again, and the two teams played relatively stalemate in this section, and the score difference could not be opened or narrowed. In this quarter, the Cavaliers' outside feel dropped to the freezing point, only 3 of 12 shots, but the inside shooting rate was not low, and the basket shot was almost unmissed, scoring 28 points in a single quarter; the Raptors were 2 of 5 outside shots, and the score mainly relied on impacting the basket, scoring 26 points in a single quarter! At the end of the 3rd quarter, the two teams fought 95-73, and the Cavaliers led to 22 points;
At the beginning of the last quarter, Olynyk took the lead in hitting a 3-point shot, Okoro broke through the board and threw to make it 2+1, Barnes hooked his hand to shoot, LeVert made a basket, Dick and Brown teamed up to score 5 points, Garland scored 3 points with an arrow, Mitchell assisted Niang 3 points and then hit again;
Statistics:
Cavaliers: Allen 18 points, 15 rebounds and 2 assists, Mobley 17 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists, Mitchell 15 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals, Strus 14 points, 7 assists and 2 rebounds, LeVert 13 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, Niang 13 points, Okoro 12 points, 4 assists and 2 rebounds, Garland 11 points, 8 assists and 3 rebounds, Merrill 6 points;
Raptors: Barnes 24 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, Barrett 14 points and 7 rebounds, Dick 14 points, Olynyk 11 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, Quickley 10 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds, Abaki 8 points and 2 rebounds, Poeltl 6 points and 7 rebounds, Trent 6 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, Bruce Brown 2 points and 2 rebounds.