Darius Garland scored 24 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the visiting Toronto Raptors 105-102 Sunday night.
Max Strus scored all 20 of his points in the third quarter for the Cavaliers, who had lost their two previous games.
Donovan Mitchell added 10 points for Clevland. Evan Mobley had 12 points and 14 rebounds, while Jarrett Allen chipped in with 18 points.
Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poeltl each scored 18 points for Toronto. Poeltl added 13 rebounds. Scottie Barnes had 15 points for the Raptors, who had won their two previous games. Dennis Schroder scored 15 points, Gary Trent Jr. had 13 points and OG Anunoby added 11.
Cleveland took a two-point lead into the fourth quarter.
The Cavaliers scored the first five points of the fourth. The lead reached 12 on Garland’s 3-pointer with 8:29 to play. Poeltl made two free throws to cut the lead to five with 5:41 left. Siakam cut the lead to three on a jumper with 3:30 to play. After Toronto cut the lead to two, Garland bumped the margin to four with 20.6 seconds left but Schroder answered with a 3-pointer. Mitchell then hit two free throws with 9.6 seconds left.
The Raptors led 28-25 after one quarter.
Garland hit two consecutive 3-pointers to give Cleveland a 38-32 lead with 7:23 to play in the second quarter. Toronto responded with an 18-0 run. The Raptors led 52-42 at halftime.
The Raptors shot 44.7 percent (21-for-47) from the field in the first half with Trent scoring 11 points off the bench. The Cavaliers shot 42.2 percent (19-for-45) from the field in the first half with Garland scoring 15 points.
The Cavaliers scored the first six points of the third quarter. Toronto regained a 10-point lead on Malachi Flynn’s 3-pointer with 7:25 left in the third. Mitchell’s jumper trimmed the margin to two points with 5:15 left. Strus tied the game at 67 on a 3-pointer with 2:58 remaining. Strus completed the third-quarter scoring that gave Cleveland a 74-72 lead.
–Field Level Media