James with 29 as Cleveland Cavaliers dominate Orlando Magic, 104-79

Twenty-nine thoughts for 29 defensive rebounds in a 122-100 win over the Toronto Raptors on Monday…

The two point guards will meet in Washington on Wednesday.

After Saturday night’s dismantling of the Orlando Magic, the Cavaliers had one more opportunity to bolster their resume and build some momentum before a six-game gauntlet on the road that includes a swing into the Lone Star State to face the murderer’s row of Texas teams.

Irving talked for weeks about knocking the rust off. That process looks almost complete. “I’m not going to put too much pressure on him right now, but I know what he can become in this league and tonight he showed it”.

Tristan Thompson had 10 points and 12 rebounds and Kyrie Irving scored 13 points for the Cavs, who have won their last three games. “But until we turn it on defensively, we’re kidding ourselves”. Lowry finished with 23 points and 10 assists, DeRozan had 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting, and Patterson scored 15 points on eight shots, but grabbed only one rebound.

Wall was awfully good himself in December, averaging 22.6 points and 11.7 assists to earn East player of the month honors, but perhaps his best game in that stretch was the first. Despite a solid effort in the first half, the Raptors, on the second night of a back-to-back, were unable to stick with the Cavaliers after the halftime break. Orlando fouled Cleveland’s 3-point shooters five times. When they are shuffling LeBron James, Kevin Love and a healthy Irving in and out, defending this team is most demanding.

The Raptors were able to beat the Cavs in Toronto back on November 25, but playing in Cleveland at LeBron’s house is an entirely different story. Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant missed the game because of a sprained right big toe. “Kyrie did fantastic things”. James continues to lead in three major statistical categories: points (25.8), assists (5.9) and steals (1.5) per game.

“We didn’t compete”, Magic coach Scott Skiles said. In that span, a seven point deficit turned into 18, and that was the game. But for me now it’s just continuing, continuing, continuing to progress and get better for my teammates.

With the exception of Patrick Patterson’s stellar opening quarter, the first half went mainly as expected. It is very much above the radar, with the two battling for a spot on Team USA during the summer of 2014 and Wall recently questioning Irving’s place in the All-Star voting.

James was then asked if it was fair to vote for Irving, considering his small body of work this season, and James might have had a Freudian slip regarding the status he thinks Irving can reach in his answer.

How Irving did it against the 5th best scoring defense in the league was what was most impressive. I didn’t even mind his aforementioned offensive goaltending because I liked seeing the aggression.

Carroll’s knee injury has forced him to play at less than 100 per cent and kept him out Monday.

“It was a big-time game, (positions) one against two in our respective conference”.

“Honestly, I just told him, ‘Man, it’s good to have you back and looking at full strength, ‘” Blatt said.