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Rudy Gay's injury, DeMar DeRozan's struggles, and JV/Ross' playing time made this an unusual game, and one that the Toronto Raptors deserve full credit for winning, 100 to 96. A big part of this win was due to a 33 point third quarter and Kyrie Irving's shoulder injury certainly helped, as the young point guard left for the locker room in the third quarter, and didn't reurn. Which brings us to our MVP...
MVP: Kyrie Irving's shoulder Amir Johnson
I was planning on awarding this to Kyrie's injury, but it didn't seem fair, considering the incredible effort Amir put forth in tonight's game. His play down low was the sole reason the Raps were able to stick around in the first half, and he made an impact during Toronto's comeback as well. In terms of stats, his 17 points and 16 rebounds were certainly not too shabby.
Kobe Bryant Award (clutch gene): Kyle Lowry
It was only one shot, but it was a big one. With 14 seconds remaining, and the Raptors up by one, Kyle Lowry went all Kemba Walker on Alonzo Gee, hitting a remarkable spin step-back fadeaway jumper to win the game for the Raps. Considering how many times the Raps have been on the other end of this type of play.... Lowry's game-winner felt nice.
LVP: Alonzo Gee
The only Raptor semi-deserving of this honor was DeRozan, but his aggressiveness and ball movement in the second half made up for his poor shooting, and got him out of the dog house, at least in my eyes. So we look to the Cavs for the LVP award, and find Alonzo Gee, who was non-existent on offense, and got burned by Kyle Lowry in the final seconds. Take that, Mr. Gee.
Most bizarre moment:
Landry Fields threw up a full-court heave at the end of the third quarter; but instead of hitting the net... he hit the ball boy. Headshot. Leo went on to joke about how Fields hit him because didn't think the kid was mopping the floor well enough, which led to a shot of the ballboy looking less than pleased sitting under the net. I guess he didn't find it as funny as I did.
Box Score:
Cavaliers vs Raptors boxscore
The Raptors play their next game Wednesday, as they take on the sixth place Celtics, and as always, drop by the other team's blog for more thoughts and takeaways. Tonight it's SB Nation's Cavs' blog, Fear the Sword.