Post Game Report Card: Ross, Valanciunas Lead Raptors To Victory Over Cavs

Just like that, the Cleveland Cavaliers win streak has ended. Tonight, the Toronto Raptors were able to protect their homecourt with a 98-91 win over the visiting team which boasted not one, but two Canadian players (Tristan Thompson & Anthony Bennett) making their lone trip north of the border for the regular season. With this victory, the Raptors (30-25) still remain half a game above the Chicago Bulls for the third seed in the Eastern Conference. It wasn’t the prettiest, but it was still a solid win.

Offense: B-

Those who watched this game may think a B- is a tad bit too generous of a grade for tonight’s offensive performance, but I believe that it’s fair. While the Raptors were awful from the field to begin this matchup, they did pick up their play as the game progressed. Especially in the third quarter.

As predicted in the game day preview, Jonas Valanciunas showed up tonight. In the early stages of the second half, JV was a beast— he got his touches, and he made the opposition pay through his usual mix of headfakes and energy plays in the paint. On top of this, it was encouraging to see Valanciunas be the beneficiary of swift passes after cutting in the lane. When he stays engaged, he definitely adds a needed element on this side of the floor. He finished with 18 points on the night.

Since DeMar DeRozan & Kyle Lowry combined for just 28 points on 10 of 27 shooting, other players were forced to chip in tonight. Terrence Ross was one of those guys. Ross chipped in 20 points of his own on 9 of 18 from the field, and that isn’t where his contributions ended.

Defense: A-

This may be turning into a Ross appreciation piece. But seriously, without T-Ross’ play, the Raps may not have escaped this one with a W. Dwane Casey elected to roll with the sophomore wing when it came to guarding Kyrie Irving. It worked. It worked really well. Kyrie was 3 for 16 from the field tonight. Uncle Drew was never in control for a notable stretch of time in this game. Because of this, I can actually say that he had trouble getting buckets like he does in the commercials.

While the Cavs point guard struggled to find his rhythm, the rest of the team had to make up for it. It just wasn’t enough though. As the Raptors pulled away in the third quarter, Luol Deng and the rest of the Cleveland supporting cast (sans Dion Waiters, Anderson Varejao, and CJ Miles) couldn’t make enough plays to stay in the game. Toronto won the quarter 37-21 and never looked back.

Rebounding: B

While it would have been nice to see the Raptors limit the Cavaliers on the offensive glass a bit more (they grabbed 17 offensive boards), the performance was passable. 42 rebounds on the night is a definite improvement from Wednesday’s game. JV led the way with 8, while Amir Johnson and Tyler Hansbrough contributed 7 apiece. Losing the team rebounding battle 47-42 is not much of a big deal when the other facets of the game make up for it.

Game Ball – Terrence Ross / Jonas Valanciunas

You weren’t expecting the game ball to go to anyone else, were you? The two sophomores pushed the Raptors over the hump on a night where things could have taken a turn for the worst. Hopefully tonight’s performance can be a confidence booster for these two second year players as they look continue to find their way.