Cavaliers take 2-0 series lead with 115-105 win over Raptors
BY TIM SHIRER
CAVS BEAT WRITER
(CLEVELAND, OH) - Monday night a Rocket Arena the Cleveland Cavaliers brought a 1-0 lead into game two of their best of seven series with the Toronto Raptors.
On Saturday, the Cavs dominated the Raptors in every phase of the game offensively and defensively on the way to the 126-113 win. Monday night the game was a closer contest with the largest lead by the Cavs being 16 points, but the result was the same as the Cavs moved to 2-0 in the series with a 115-105 win.
The Cavs once again took an early lead 10-5 when James Harden hit a jumper with 9:41 left in the opening quarter. Then with 6:56 remaining Donovan Mitchell drained a three and gave the Cavs a 15-7 lead and Toronto coach Darko Rajakovic called a timeout. With 4:02 left Toronto cut the Cavs lead to 19-12 and Kenny Atkinson took a timeout after Collin Murray-Boyles hit a jumper at the top of the paint. Immediately after the timeout with 3:42 remaining Max Strus put the Cavs up by 10 when he hit a three from the top of the arc. In a matter of 15 second Sam Merrill turned the ball over on a bad pass and then committed a personal foul at the other end. The Raptors cut the Cavs lead to 26-19. As the quarter ended the score remained 26-19. Mitchell led all scorers with seven first quarter points. Murray-Boyles led the Raptors with four points. The Raptors outrebounded the Cavs 11-9 in the opening 12 minutes. However, the Cavs outshot the Raptors 60% (12 of 20) to 33% (7 of 21).
After the Raptors cut the Cavs lead to two points Dennis Schroder hit Mitchell who drained a three to give the Cavs a 29-24 lead. Merrill then scored in the paint on a pass from Schroder and was fouled giving the Cavs 31-24 lead after missing the free throw with 10:24 remaining. With 8:54 left Evan Mobley put back a miss by Schroder to give Cleveland a 38-28 lead, Toronto called a timeout. With 4:34 remaining the Raptors cut the Cavs lead to 44-40. Harden responded with a three with 4:10 left on the clock. Then with 3:36 left Harden hit a long range three that bounced twice before finally going through the net to give the Cavs a 50-40 lead. With 2;23 left on the first clock Scottie Barnes hit a three to pull the Raptors to within five points. With :23.0 left on the clock Mitchell found Mobley in the paint to give Cleveland a 54-47 lead. When the clock ran out the Cavs led 54-48. Harden led all scorers at the break with 16 points. RJ Barrett was pacing the Raptors with 10 points. The Raptors continued to dominate the boards 24-18. The Cavs shot 54% (23 of 43) in the opening half while the Raptors shot 41% (18 of 44). Neither team was great from long range as Cleveland shot 30% (6 of 20) and Toronto was a little worse shooting just 28% (5 of 18).
With 1:18 gone in the third the Cavs lead was back at double digits when Harden drained a three on a nice pass from Allen. With 10:03 left Toronto could feel it slipping away when the Cavs extended their lead to 61-49 and they took a timeout. The timeout worked as the Raptors quickly cut the Cavs lead to seven points until Mobley responded with a three with 9:02 remaining in the third quarter. In a 19 second sequence where Allen, Mobley, and Mitchell missed shots, Wade got the final rebound of the sequence and Harden called for the ball drove the lane and with 7:45 remaining scored giving the Cavs a 68-55 lead and frustrating the Raptors who called a timeout a few seconds later. Then with 7:06 left Dean Wade got in on the act draining a three from in front of the Cleveland bench to give the Cavs a 16 point advantage. With 5:16 left in the third the Raptors trimmed the Cavs lead to 12 points. Then Mobley scored in the paint and was fouled. Mobley converted the free throw, and the Cavs lead was back at 15 points. With 2:04 left the Raptors trimmed the Cleveland lead to 79-71. Atkinson called an immediate timeout. With 1:32 left the Cavs lead had shrunk to six points. When period ended the Cavs, lead was 84-77. The Cavs outscored Toronto 30-29 in the 12 minute span. Mobley was leading all scorers including Barnes with 23 points. Barnes led the Raptors with 17 points through three. The Raptors still led the rebound game 32-27, but Cleveland outrebounded them 11-8 in the third quarter.
Early in the final quarter Jaylon Tyson fouled Barnes hard and he went to the floor Tyson proceeded to clap over him. His Raptors teammates responded by coming to his aid. The game was getting more physical as the quarter progressed and it seemed at least at the 8 minute mark the officials were going to let them play. With 7:56 left in regulation Allen was fouled he hit both free throws and the Cavs led 92-82. With 6:46 left Sandro Mamukelashvili scored in the paint cutting the Cleveland lead to 92-86. Atkinson called a timeout. Right after the timeout with 6:27 left Max Strus drained a three and the Cavs lead was at nine points. With 4:41 left Barnes fouled Harden behind the three-point line. Harden made two of three and the Cavs led 99-88. Mitchell drained three with 4:13 left to give the Cavs a 102-90 lead and then after a Raptors turnover Mitchell scored at the other end giving Cleveland a 104-90 lead with 3:53 left in regulation. With 1:58 left Mobley scored in the paint and the Cavs lead was 108-94. With 1:48 remaining Harden fouled Murray-Boyles and he hit both free throws and the Cleveland lead was at 12. With 1:12 left Brandon Ingram hit a three and the Cavs’ lead was cut to nine points. With :45.1 left Mitchell hit a jumper to give the Cavs a 110-99 lead and all but secure the Cleveland win. As time ran down and Harden shot free throws the crowd chanted “Scottie sucks, Scottie sucks” toward Raptors forward Scottie Barnes. When the final buzzer sounded the Cavs prevailed 115-105.
Mitchell led all scorers with 30 points. Harden had 28 and Mobley tallied 25. Barnes led the Raptors in the loss with 26 points and just four rebounds. The former rookie of the year has just five boards in the first two games of the series and averaged 7.5 per game during the regular season.
The Cavs outshot the Raptors 53% (44 of 83) to 51% (42 of 83) from the field. Cleveland also outshot Toronto from long range 33% (13 of 40) to 27% (7 of 26). The Raptors did shoot better from the charity stripe as they outshot the Cavs 82% (14 of 17) to 64% (14 of 22). The Cavs were also outrebounded by the Raptors 43-35 for the game, but the Cavs were better on the boards closing the gap to 18-17 in the second half. The Raptors bench outscored the Cavs bench 45-19 as Merrill had another insignificant night scoring just five points and shooting 2 of 6 and 1 of 5 from long range. Strus was the high ma off the bench with six points. The Raptors also outscored the Cavs in the paint 64-52 and still could not pull off the win.
The two teams will now move to Toronto for game three on Thursday night where the Cavs will try to put a stranglehold on the series and go up 3-0. Game time is at 8 pm.
POSTED 04/20/2026 22:14
Lake County Sentinel
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Cavs point guard James Harden shoots a free throw in the Cavaliers 115-105 over the Toronto Raptors to take a 2-0 lead in their best of seven series. . . Photo by Tim Shirer
