It Was Over When....In an effort to avoid a fourth straight loss on their home floor, Cleveland came out strong and had the Raptors down 26-8 with 4:04 to play in the first quarter. But the Raptors took that initial flurry of shots and began to counter, eventually taking their first lead of the game on a Lou Williams buzzer beater to end the first half.
The third quarter is where the Raptors broke things open, using a 22-6 run over the last 6:13 of the frame to create a 14-point advantage that they built on in the fourth.
'We started getting stops,' Casey said. 'We slowed them down. We knew that train was going to come out of the gate really roaring and they did and we didn't give in. We sustained our focus and our defensive disposition and just kept on playing. That's what you've got to do against a good team like that.' The Game Changer
Lou Williams poured in a career-high 36 points (9-19 FGM-A, 15-15 FTM-A, 3-8 3PT FGM-A) to go with four rebounds and three seals in what has to be one of the finest performances ever by a Raptors reserve. The Raptors don't even get to consider seizing control of this game without his 24 first-half points, including nine of those coming at free throw line and the buzzer beater mentioned a little earlier.
Casey said post-game that part of the game plan was to use Williams and his veteran savvy to exploit some matchups offensively, but the head coach was also quick to laud the guard's defence.
'He had a reputation of being a scorer, but now he's doing a much better job defensively for us, which allows him to stay in and guard guys like [Dion] Waiters and [Kyrie] Irving and people like that.' The Underrated Raptor
Instead of picking a player here, we have to say something about the incredible Raptors fans who traveled to Cleveland on Saturday.
Then, there was on the way out....
These fans were so loud with 'Let's Go Raptors' chants towards the end of the fourth quarter that the in arena DJ attempted to drown it out. With Drake songs. These fans had the attention of Casey and many of the players long before that point.
'Oh unbelievable,' Casey said post-game about the fans. 'It was like old school soccer, travelling with the flag. That was big. Again, I can't say enough about our fans. We have the best in the league. Our guys know it. You could feel it.' That's A Rap
Watch as Matt Devlin, Jack Armstrong, Sherman Hamilton and Paul Jones wrap this one up from Cleveland on NBATV Canada's Raptors Post Up. By The Numbers
8 - Turnovers for the Raptors, versus 18 for the Cavaliers
64-37 - Cumulative scoring in the middle two quarters, favouring the Raptors
15-15 - Free throw shooting from Lou Williams on his way to a career-high 36 points
15 - Points for LeBron James, matching his second-lowest scoring output of the season. A ton of credit needs to go to DeMar DeRozan, who took on the challenge of guarding the forward for most of a second half where he was held to four points.
5 - Raptors comebacks from double-digit deficits this seaon, which, leads the NBA. In Photos
Click the photo below to view the entire gallery from Raptors @ Cavaliers on Saturday
Next Up
The Eastern Conference-leading Raptors return to Air Canada Centre on Monday for the first of two meetings this season with Goran Dragic, Eric Bledsoe and the high octane Phoenix Suns (7:30 PM ET, TSN2, FAN590)
Post By http://www.nba.com/raptors/game-rap-raptors-110-cavaliers-93
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