Cavs’ JR Smith leaves game in Toronto with left knee injury

Smith is stuck in an 8-of-42 shooting slump (19 percent) over his last six games.

James Harden matched a franchise record for free throws without a miss and the Houston Rockets held on for a 107-106 victory over the Boston Celtics. “The fourth quarter is the fourth quarter”. As Casey said: the Raptors need to play a flawless game – and with Siakam and Jonas taking turns getting overwhelmed on one end of the court or the other, there’s just no way for that to happen.

Power-forward Mike Muscala’s production has sharply decreased since the beginning of the year, averaging 3-and-a-half boards per 22 minutes in the last ten games.

Just days after Trump’s win, three National Basketball Association teams decided that they would boycott Trump-branded hotels, according to ESPN. “Teams just don’t. So now (coach Erik) Spoelstra has to text Riley and say, ‘What do I do in this situation?’ And Pat, who has iron-fist rules, answers, ‘You are on the plane, you are with this team, ‘” Jackson said, recalling the situation. “It’s just been a tough 10 or 12 days”. As a team, we didn’t make the screens, we didn’t make the good passes.

DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with 31 points and Lowry added 24 points and nine assists. The team said he is day to day while he receives additional treatment.

“They are trying to double team Kyle (Lowry) and DeMar (DeRozan) and they’re finding people and the ball is finding the right person”. A matchup between these two teams is expected to be exciting despite their previous meeting, when Cleveland walked away with a 29-point victory.

Griffin said more than half of the 14 players who are traveling to the city may have decided not to stay the the hotel.

Couple takeaways from the box score: Cleveland dominated on the glass and outrebounded the Raptors 48-33; the Raptors only had seven turnovers, while the Cavs had 17; and the Raptors finished with 39 bench points.

And yet, Toronto and Cleveland seemed to be moving in opposite directions heading into the game. “You have two guards who can put up countless numbers on any given night”. We have a solid bench and solid role players, so right now we’re high. We are making shots.

Dennis Schroder and Tim Hardaway each scored 15 points for the Hawks, whose biggest lead was five points. Dwight Howard and Kris Humphries both had 10 points.

“We’re not playing hard enough; we’re not doing the things that need to be done to win”.

Which brings us to the true problem of the Raptors when they go up against the Cavaliers, or the Warriors (or even the Clippers or Spurs). He hurt his left knee on the play but was able to stay in the game after a timeout. Nelson answered with a 3 to put Denver back up by a point, but DeRozan hit a jumper with 15 seconds left as the Raptors regained the lead.

Behind a 38-point second quarter, their second-highest output in any period this season, the Nuggets took a 57-52 lead at halftime after trailing by as many as 12.

He did not return to play. Kyrie Irving had 24 points and 7 assists from 37 minutes. Cavaliers medical staff said that he will miss at least one game but with the way he has been playing, the team will most likely be really cautious and wait until he fully heals.