Playing without Kyle Lowry in the midst of a troublesome stretch of basketball, the Toronto Raptors put together about the best game they could have asked for Wednesday.
Jonas Valanciunas stepped up to exploit an advantage in the middle, finishing with 26 points, 11 rebounds and one seriously crowd-pleasing flagrant foul. DeMar DeRozan also picked up the scoring slack with Lowry out, scoring 25 points. And Amir Johnson got in on the facilitating with three assists to go along with four points and eight rebounds.
Lou Williams even set a franchise record by scoring 21 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter.
They played really well, without their best player.
Unfortunately ...
... the Raptors ran into LeBron James and the red-hot Cleveland Cavaliers, who came away with the 120-112 victory in what was an incredibly entertaining playoff-caliber game at the Air Canada Centre.
James finished with 29 points on 9-of-16 shooting, grabbed six rebounds and dished 14 dimes - the most he's tallied in a game since Dec. 15 and the fifth-highest total of his career.
Kevin Love (22 points, 10 rebounds) and Kyrie Irving (26 points, eight assists) were beneficiaries of all the attention James was drawing from an over-matched Raptors defense, while James Jones unexpectedly hit four triples off the bench when he repeatedly found himself open.
The win is the second in a row for Cleveland and their 20th over the last 24 games - an incredible stretch since James returned to health, Iman Shumpert joined the lineup and the Cavs tweaked their defensive coverages. They've moved into a three-way tie with Toronto and the Chicago Bulls for second in the Eastern Conference, a seed they seem a likely bet to land in at the end of the season.
The Raptors, meanwhile, can be encouraged by a strong outing, though their fifth loss in six games is a tough pill considering they now head out on a tough three-game road trip.
