The Cleveland Cavaliers have lost twice at home to the surging Toronto Raptors this season and they hope that changes Monday night with a shift in venue.
The Cavaliers visit Toronto to open a two-game road trip with those two losses to the Raptors –112-101 on Oct. 31 and 126-113 on Nov. 13 — still a fresh memory.
Cleveland is coming off a 120-105 home win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday. The Cavaliers have won two straight and four of the past five and will be out to end Toronto’s seven-game winning streak.
The Raptors recorded a 119-109 home victory Sunday over the Brooklyn Nets. They have won 11 of 12.
Donovan Mitchell scored 37 points to lead the Cavaliers on Sunday as they completed a 4-2 homestand.
“I think for us, this is perfect,” Mitchell said. “There’s so many learning lessons. We have good games, we have bad games. Obviously, you want to continue to trend the right way, and I feel like we are. But I think 12-6 [record] is right where we need to be. Continue to just progress.”
Mitchell added eight rebounds and six assists against the Clippers in scoring 30 or more points for the 10th time this season.
“That’s the Don I’m used to seeing,” said Cavaliers forward De’Andre Hunter, who scored 17 points. “He’s one of the dudes that you see almost every night with some spectacular plays or some scoring output.”
The Cavaliers’ depth was a factor on Sunday. They were without Lonzo Ball (knee injury management), Jarrett Allen (finger), Craig Porter Jr. (hamstring), Sam Merrill (hand) and Max Strus (foot).
Players like Tyrese Proctor, who scored 11 points, and Nae’Qwan Tomlin, who had eight points, two blocks and one steal made solid contributions.
“We have a lot of guys out right now, and you’re playing the Clippers and you say, well, to go out there against a team like that and have your young guys play like really good rotation players, that’s huge,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said.
The Raptors have their own injury problem. RJ Barrett had 16 points when he left Sunday in the third quarter with a right knee sprain and did not return. He is scheduled to have imaging done on Monday. He landed awkwardly on a breakaway dunk with 7:32 to play in the third and soon after hobbled to the dressing room.
Like the Cavaliers, the Raptors had a chance to show their depth. They rested center Jakob Poeltl on Sunday on the front end of a back-to-back because he has been dealing with lower back tightness.
Sandro Mamukelashvili started in his place and scored 12 points in 27 minutes.
Reserve Ja’Kobe Walter scored 16 points on 6-for-7 shooting, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range. Jamal Shead had 11 points, including two free throws that snapped a 104-104 tie with 3:59 left.
Starting guard Immanuel Quickley had eight of his 13 points in the fourth quarter, including key 3-pointers with 3:17 and 2:22 remaining in the game.
“We really needed good offensive execution there,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “I thought that guys got to their spots on the floor. I thought that Brandon Ingram made a couple of great plays there offensively, finding open people.”
Quickley called it “winning time.”
“Just trying to make myself available,” Quickley said. “(Ingram) is used to seeing a lot of doubles (from defenses), so I kind of got a feel of where a soft spot is in double teams.”
