LeBron James inspired by Leah Still’s presence

The Magic lost once again in Cleveland Saturday night as they just dont have an answer for LeBron James and the Cavs.

James helped stake the Cavaliers (24-9) to an 18-point lead by hitting all four of his 3-pointers less than four minutes into the third quarter.

“When we have a fourth quarter where our best player doesn’t have to come in the game, that’s a big-time progressive step for us”, Irving said.

From there, Irving – playing in his sixth game after spending six months rehabilitating after surgery to fix a fractured left kneecap – took over.

“I’ve definitely been putting in extra work as of late, just trying to get my shot back, get my legs back under me”, James said. “Tonight it just looked like the old Kyrie”. Irving went for 32 points on 14-for-22 shooting – with 19 points coming in the fourth quarter – to go with five boards and Smith contributed 25 points which included five 3-pointers. But James voted for Irving on Twitter Monday (along with Kevin Love, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony) and believes Irving belongs in the game regardless of the injury and small sample size to his season. John Wall leads in assists with 9.7 and in steals with 2.1 per game. James’ 3-pointer gave Cleveland a 44-17 lead midway through the second, which was followed by Orlando committing an offensive foul while inbounding the ball.

With the score tied in the fourth quarter, Irving reeled off 10 consecutive points while the Cavaliers’ defense got some timely stops. The starters combined for 65 points, 11 assists and 34 rebounds. “They’re just unbelievable”, James said after the game. The only problem is that no one has proven, or really got the chance to setting aside the eastern conference playoffs previous year, that they can beat the Cavs with Lebron and Kryie. Love, who didn’t participate in the morning shootaround because he wasn’t feeling well, played 33 minutes and grabbed nine rebounds. Tonight’s matchup is no different with the famed United Kingdom sportsbook offering attractive underdog odds against the Raptors at 4.10 to win, while the Cavs are heavy favorites at 1.25.

NOTES: Toronto F DeMarre Carroll did not play in Monday’s game because of swelling in his knee.

“One-hundred points should be good enough to win in this league”, Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “We are able to get so many open looks and they put us in great position to make shots and we probably do the same for them”.

The Cavs travel to Washington on Wednesday night to take on the Wizards. The trip also includes stops in Minnesota, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston.

“We did a bad job of knowing personnel in certain spots of who we wanted to shoot the ball”, Wizards forward Jared Dudley said. It could mean we see more Bismack Biyombo and less Jonas Valanciunas as the season goes on.