Dribbles: Cavs Had Night To Forget, But Ride Darius Garland’s 40 To Win 12th Straight, Anyway

CLEVELAND — Random dribbles from the Cavaliers’ 132-126 home win over the Toronto Raptors on Thursday. …

1. Well, that was less-than-ideal. But a win is a win is a win, and the Cavaliers have now done it 12 straight times. That alone is pretty remarkable.

2. This one took every ounce of energy from everybody and a whole lotta Darius Garland. And for a while, even that seemed like it might not be enough.

3. The Cavs (33-4) didn’t have Donovan Mitchell, who was held out to rest after the big win over Oklahoma City on Wednesday. For large chunks of this one, it was pretty evident they missed him.

4. Then Garland helped the Cavs get over it by erupting for 40 points, nine assists and multiple big shots to pull his team from the ashes. His stepback 3-pointer with 39.6 seconds left was undoubtedly the biggest shot of 2025.

4. Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson wasn’t exactly pleased overall. He said he was preparing to deliver a postgame speech about a loss. Yet somehow, it turned into a win. In many ways, that win was almost solely because of Garland’s mastery.

5. Atkinson on his star point guard: “This is the first game all year that I felt like one guy carried us. We weren’t good, he just singlehandedly won us this game. If he’s not an All-Star, I don’t know what an All-Star is. … He completely took over the game.”

6. Garland sort of shrugged when talking about his 40-pointer. “When you see a couple shots go in, the rim gets bigger. We needed all of them tonight. We didn’t have a lot of energy coming into this game. So I give a lot of credit to us for fighting. It was a team effort.”

7. The Raptors (8-30) haven’t won since early December. The Cavs were coming off an emotional win. It’s only human nature not to get up for nights like these. It probably didn’t help that Toronto shot the ball incredibly well, finishing an eye-popping 59.6 percent from the field.

8. More Atkinson: “We adjusted and nothing worked. Darius saved us, but we could not stop them. I’m disappointed in our defense. (The Raptors) shot over their heads, but we weren’t good defensively for sure.”

9. Evan Mobley added 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting with 11 rebounds. Jarrett Allen scored 18 and, as usual, missed just one shot (8-of-9).

10. Allen also grabbed a game-high 15 boards and made an inspiring hustle play near the end, diving into the first row to save a ball from going out of bounds. There’s a reason Garland said the Cavs have “the two best bigs in the league, to be honest with you.”

11. Caris LeVert started in place of Mitchell and was his usual aggressive self in scoring 18 points. He again was all arms, legs and hustle defensively.

12. Not to be forgotten: Max Strus, who went 4-of-7 (all threes) for 12 points, as well as Ty Jerome (eight points), Georges Niang (ditto), and Dean Wade (five points, plus-12). All played a role in making sure this didn’t turn into a complete meltdown.

13. Atkinson again: “I thought this was gonna be that game. … We didn’t handle this one well in terms of getting over last night. We’re lucky as heck to get this win. That’s why it’s so hard to go 33-4.”

14. Scottie Barnes led the Raptors with 24 points, Chris Boucher scored 23 and RJ Barrett had 20. They will probably go back to being themselves now. But it was just another example of the Cavs being at the top — and therefore, getting everyone’s best effort.

15. Garland said he’s fine with all that. “I think we’re handling it pretty well,” he said. “I mean, our record shows that we are. … It’s cool being the hunted. I like it.”

16. The Cavaliers now get a couple of well-earned days off, staying home to face the Indiana Pacers on Sunday. It wasn’t always pretty, but the win streak marches on. That’s all that really counts.

• Box Score | Cavs 132, Raptors 126
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