TORONTO: Eighteen thoughts for 18 points from Kevin Love in the Cavs’ 94-91 win against the Toronto Raptors on Friday at Air Canada Centre…
1. The last time the Cavs were in this building, they were celebrating their Eastern Conference championship on their way to an NBA championship. J.R. Smith was placing the Eastern Conference trophy on top of his locker and telling it they were going for its sister next. The locker room floor was soaked from the water celebration (they didn’t have any champagne) and Raptors coach Dwane Casey went home shaking his head over the firepower in Cleveland.
2. Five months later, not much has changed, except coach Tyronn Lue believes this is the type of game the Cavs would’ve lost last season. They led by double figures early, then watched the Raptors fight back to take their first lead of the night with 2 1/2 minutes left.
3. “I just want to give our team credit for growth,” Lue said. “Last year we would’ve lost this game, a grind out game when we’re not shooting the ball well, we’re not scoring well, things are not going our way and we figured out a way to win. I commend our team for that.”
4. It wasn’t Game 7 of the Finals, but Irving’s 3-pointer with 44 seconds left to give the Cavs their final basket – and the win – sure evoked memories of his dagger 3 at Oracle Arena last June.
5. Lue elected not to call a timeout after Tristan Thompson corralled the rebound following Jonas Valanciunas’ miss with 54 seconds left, electing instead to put the ball in LeBron James’ hands and let him win it. James drove to the basket, spun and found Irving at the top of the arc. Lue thought Irving passed up a 3-pointer he should’ve taken earlier, but he shot and made the one that mattered most.
6. “The fourth quarter is usually money time,” said Irving, whose only blemish was his seven turnovers. “I’ve always felt that way since I’ve kind of played basketball, but having the trust of your teammates and trust of the coaching staff, it means a lot. It goes a lot further than I think people realize.”
7. Irving, however, dismissed any comparison to the 3-pointer he made in the final minute to beat the Warriors.
8. “It’s just Game 2 of a new season,” he said. “I’m glad that we went through a close game with a great team like that tonight though. It shows a lot of growth on our end as a team.”
9. These games feel as if they mean more to the Raptors than they do the Cavs, particularly in this building. The Raptors won the season series last year, 2-1, but it mattered little in the playoffs in part because they did not have home-court advantage.
10. Kyle Lowry told NBA.com’s David Aldridge prior to the start of the season that the Raptors might need to make securing the No. 1 seed and home court throughout the East a priority this season. That has never really been James’ focus. James has always said he doesn’t care where he is seeded, just get him into the playoffs and get out of his way.
11. Lue softened that a bit recently when I asked him if it’s bad for basketball that the Cavs and Warriors – widely regarded as the top teams in each conference – are on record as saying they’re focusing on the playoffs and making sure they’re healthy and rested in April.
12. “I don’t say we’re going to drop to seventh or eighth seed just worrying about health,” Lue said. “If you’re able to win games and you’re able to be up by a margin where you can rest guys, then you’ve earned that right. You play hard and you win games to earn that right down the stretch of the season. If you need to rest guys to make sure guys are fully, fully healthy going into the playoffs, then you do that. You have to do what’s right for your team.”
13. Lue unveiled an intriguing lineup with no practice time that might come in handy later. With Channing Frye excused from the team following the death of his mother, James shifted to center for the start of the second quarter in a lineup that included Irving, Jefferson, Iman Shumpert and Mike Dunleavy. It was shooterpalooza. The lineup played just four minutes together and made 3 of 5 shots, but they also turned it over twice.
14. “We had to try something different and I wanted to take a look at it,” Lue said. “I give the team credit. We hadn’t worked on it. It kind of had us in disarray a little bit, but we’ve just got to figure it out. I thought our guys did a good job of figuring out what we wanted to run and did a pretty good job with it.”
15. Funny locker room moment when all the players started reciting lines from the ‘90s hit television show “Martin.” James was cracking himself up shouting across the locker room at J.R. Smith. After a few minutes went by, Love looked over at Smith. “Is he talking about Seinfeld?” Love joked and Smith cracked up.
16. The Cleveland writers had grand plans of moving quickly through our postgame responsibilities to catch the last few innings of the World Series somewhere in Toronto. James obliterated that plan, however, with the longest icing session in postgame history. James was quite content to sit with his feet in the ice bucket and run those Martin lines while watching the World Series on the television in the locker room.
17. How long did he take? Tomlin was still on the mound when we walked into the locker room. By the time he addressed reporters, Coco Crisp had pinch hit for Andrew Miller and knocked in the only run of the game. Thanks, LeBron.
18. Cavs host the Magic on Saturday, a team they’ve beaten the last 14 times they met. Lue hinted the starters will play less minutes after James and Irving each played more than 38 minutes. All five starters played at least 34 minutes. Lue said all the starters will play, however. Talk to you tomorrow from the Q.