LeBron James during a game against the Washington Wizards at Verizon Center on November 21, 2014 in Washington, DC.Rob Carr/Getty Images
The Toronto Raptors ended a seven-game home stand with a lopsided win over the Milwaukee Bucks and their 10-2 record is the best in the NBA's Eastern Conference. They take that to Cleveland Saturday night for one of the early highlights of the team's schedule: A meeting with LeBron James.
The franchise is 7-32 in games versus James and has lost the last 16 against his squads. The last time the Raptors beat a team with James on it was in 2009, during his first stint with Cleveland. They haven't delivered him a loss on his home court since 2004. With their confident start to the season, Toronto might be poised to take one from James Saturday night.
The Cavaliers were widely considered a pre-season contender for the NBA title after James rejoined them following a four-year stint with the Miami Heat, with whom he won two championships. The Ohio native opted out of the final two seasons of his contract with the Het to sign a two-year, $42.1 million deal with the Cavs, where he has teamed with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. The four-time NBA MVP is averaging 25.5 points per game – good for second in the league. But his Cleveland squad is off to a shaky 5-6 start. This week, the NBA's biggest star admitted to local media that as he is teaching this Cavs squad to win, his patience is being put to the test.
It's the first of two games the Raptors will play against the Cavs over the next two weeks, an intriguing stretch which will also include a meeting at home against Denver and a west-coast road trip to face Los Angeles, Sacramento and Utah.
Toronto goes to Cleveland with 12 games under its belt and much to tout. Coming into Friday night, they ranked second in the league in fewest giveaways and fourth in the league in total points scored. They've become a fourth-quarter lock-down team in recent games. Coming into Friday night, Toronto was holding opponent to an NBA-best 18.8 points in the final quarter of contests.
The team took down the Memphis Grizzlies, who visited as the first-place team in the Western Conference, albeit one with a few starters missing because of the flu. True, there were narrow losses to Miami and Chicago, the biggest two tests of the schedule so far. But Toronto has also shown late-game fortitude – they have had four double-digit late-game comebacks on the young season. They have avoided mis-steps against teams they ought to beat, including the Jabari Parker-lead Bucks, which they beat 124-83, a point shy of the largest margin of victory the franchise has ever had. At one point, the Raptors lead by 52, the biggest lead in club history. Five players scored in double digits, led by Lou Williams' 22.
"I thought our mental focus was great – nobody in that locker room was even talking about [Saturday] night," said Raptors coach Dwane Casey. "If we're going to be an elite team, or grow to be an elite team in this league, we have to make sure to take care of business and what's in front of us."
Toronto has gotten an average of 17 points a game from DeMar DeRozan – 14th in the league. Terrence has progressed steadily. The team's bench comes up differently each night -- from the energy-building charges taken by Chuck Hayes, to buzzer-beaters from Williams or quality defence from Patrick Patterson, James Johnson or Tyler Hansbrough (before the last two were recently sidelined by injury). And Kyle Lowry continues to grab the attention of the league.
On Friday, the lop-sided victory turned into debuts for Raptor rookies, who got time in the fourth quarter with the game in hand. First-round draft pick Bruno Caboclo dished in eight points in 12 minutes as the crowd wildly chanted his name, including an alley-oop. Lucas Nogueira had two in eight minutes.
"I felt butterflies in my stomach," said Caboclo, as Williams snapped his photo while a throng of reporters surrounded the 19-year-old Brazilian youngster. "Everyone was saying my name. It was incredible."
As the franchise-record road streak comes to a close, the Raptors close it out winning six of the seven games.
"[The homestand] was definitely big and we understand that," said DeRozan. "Not too many teams have the opportunity to have this many games at home in one stretch. We have to take advantage of it the best way we can and we did a pretty good job of it."
Now on to the road. King James has averaged 28.1 points per meeting against the Raptors in 11 NBA seasons. During his second year in the league, he hung a 56-point performance on Toronto. As they meet him Saturday during his 12 season, playing for a franchise learning to win again, the story may instead, be about the Raptors.
Rachel Brady