After successfully bouncing back from their first loss of the season, the NBA-best Cleveland Cavaliers will attempt to end a rare winning streak by the Raptors when they welcome visiting Toronto to town on Sunday night.
The Raptors had dropped seven games in a row before beating the Indiana Pacers 130-119 on Monday, and they followed that with a 110-105 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves three days later. It marked the first time this season that Toronto strung together wins.
RJ Barrett poured in a game-high 31 points while hauling in seven rebounds against Minnesota, and Jakob Poeltl supplied 15 points and 12 boards. But it was Scottie Barnes who pushed the Raptors over the top, scoring nine of his 17 points in the fourth quarter.
Before its seven-game skid, Toronto had a four-game losing streak earlier in the season. Although the Raptors are 4-12 to start the campaign, guard/forward Garrett Temple, one of Toronto’s few veterans, believes that the team is better than what its record shows.
“It’s different if we’re 2-11 and eight of the games were blowouts,” Temple said ahead of the Raptors’ modest winning streak. “We’re playing really, really good basketball, and I think everybody understands how close we are to reaching that potential. …
“So I think that’s where the positivity comes from, and it’s great to have all these young guys cracking jokes all the time.”
Cleveland, meanwhile, has had plenty of reasons to be positive. A season-opening victory over Toronto on Oct. 23 ignited a historic start for the Cavaliers, who went 15-0 before falling 120-117 to the defending champion Boston Celtics on Tuesday.
Only three other teams in NBA history — 1948-49 Washington Capitols, 1993-94 Houston Rockets, 2015-16 Warriors — began a season with 15 wins in a row. Golden State went on to win its first 24 contests to set a league record.
It didn’t take long for Cleveland to flush the loss against Boston from its system, as the Cavaliers coasted to a 128-100 blowout win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday. Making the victory all the more impressive was that the Cavs were missing starting guard Darius Garland due to a groin injury and star Donovan Mitchell put up only 10 points.
Ty Jerome stepped up for Cleveland, recording a season-high 29 points while filling in for Garland. Georges Niang came off the bench to chip in 20 points.
Garland is not listed on the injury report ahead of the meeting with Toronto.
The Cavaliers were also missing Caris LeVert (knee), Isaac Okoro (ankle) and Dean Wade (ankle) on Wednesday, leading Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson to stick rookie Jaylon Tyson in the starting lineup.
Tyson responded with 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in 37 minutes of action. He had never played more than eight minutes in an NBA game.
“We got to start Jaylon because it’s important for a young guy to be around vets to start,” Atkinson said. “And I thought that was great.”
