Kawhi Leonard scored 34 points and former Cavalier Danny Green added 15 points and seven rebounds to lead the visiting Toronto Raptors to a 106-95 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.
Leonard connected on 11 of 21 field-goal attempts and was a perfect 9-for-9 from the foul line and grabbed nine rebounds for the Raptors, who boast the league’s best record at 20-4 and now have won eight straight games.
All five Raptors starters scored in double figures.
Toronto Raptors' Kawhi Leonard (2) drives past Cleveland Cavaliers' Channing Frye (9) in the second half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018, in Cleveland. Frye was called for the foul.Tony Dejak/The Associated Press
Cleveland, which lost by 33 points on Friday to Boston, was led by Tristan Thompson and Jordan Clarkson, who each scored 18. Clarkson’s points came off the bench.
Thompson also had 19 rebounds for his 12th double-double of the season and his sixth in the past seven games.
Fred VanFleet got the start for Kyle Lowry, who was ruled out because of a sore back. Lowry scored 27 points and had eight assists against the Cavs in an opening night win, but the Raptors didn’t seem to miss him on this night as they surged to a 73-53 lead with 2:37 left in the third period.
But newly acquired Alec Burks, playing in his second game since being traded from Utah for Kyle Korver, sparked a Cavs’ 20-6 run to cut the deficit to 79-73 early in the fourth.
Toronto pushed the lead back to 11 at 89-78 as Leonard scored seven straight points.
Cleveland would not go away as Burks’ 27-foot, 3-point jumper got the Cavs within seven at 96-89 with 3:31 left. That’s the closest the Cavs would get.
Neither team shot very well in the first half. The Raptors, who came into the game shooting a league-leading 49.4 percent, connected on only 18 of 46 attempts (39.1 percent). Cleveland was worse at 35.9 percent.
The difference in the first half was Leonard, who scored 17 points. He scored 11 consecutive points as the Raptors opened up a 47-33 lead with 2:08 left in the half.
The Cavs closed out the half on a 7-0 run and trailed 47-40 at intermission.
Cleveland guard George Hill returned to action and scored eight points in 19 minutes. The veteran point guard missed the past 11 games with a sprained right shoulder.