Cavs: Ante Zizic is right with comments postgame after W over Raps

The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Toronto Raptors last night by 25 points, and it was Ante Zizic that was spot-on postgame with his comments.

The Cleveland Cavaliers appear to be building some momentum going into the offseason. They are a respectable 5-4 post-All-Star break, and yesterday was the high point of this year for them, as they destroyed the Toronto Raptors 126-101.

Nobody would have seen that coming going into the game, as Toronto has the league’s second-best record, per NBA.com.

The Cavaliers outscored Toronto in every quarter, and made timely play after timely play. Granted, as some alluded to postgame, the Raptors were in the second game of a back-to-back, but a 25-point W for the Cavs?

That was unexpected, to say the least.

Cleveland shot 18-of-41 from three-point range, and the Cavs had eight players that had a plus-minus of plus-10 or better, according to ESPN.

Collin Sexton had a superb game and continues to ascend, as he had 28 points on 10-of-18 shooting to go with five assists and four rebounds, and was making winning plays throughout the game, both as a playmaker with the ball in his hands and without.

Cleveland head coach Larry Drew gave Sexton the highest praise postgame, h/t the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Sexton also had no turnovers in 36 minutes against a team that features the defensive prowess of Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam and Kyle Lowry; the Raps force the seventh-most opponent turnovers in the NBA, per NBA.com, for the record.

Sexton’s chemistry with Kevin Love and Cedi Osman is getting better and better, too.

The other four Cleveland Cavaliers’ starters, in Brandon Knight, Osman, Love and Ante Zizic, also combined to contribute an additional 64 points and 33 rebounds, per ESPN. That kind of balance is obviously not going to happen in most games, but it was still nice to see the Cavaliers move the ball really well, both when it came to starters’ minutes and the bench.

Nik Stauskas and Jordan Clarkson brought nice energy as reserves, as they combined for 22 points (including five-of-12 from deep) and eight assists in 55 minutes. David Nwaba, one of the most consistent reserve players this season for Cleveland, also brought much-needed energy and was a plus-10 in the game.

After the game, Zizic was right in saying this was probably Cleveland’s “best game in the season” to this point, h/t the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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Overall, Cleveland did well from the opening tip, and really pulled away in the second half, from quality team offense getting shooters open from a variety of flare screens, spot-ups from drive-and-kicks, exposing mismatches, and continuing to take advantage at the free throw line. Cleveland shot 20-21 from the charity stripe, per ESPN.

There was a fight at the end of the third quarter involving Cleveland’s Marquese Chriss and the Raps’ Serge Ibaka, in which both players would be ejected, as Cavs.com’s Joe Gabriele noted, but Cleveland maintained their composure through that, and continued to extend their lead in the closing quarter.

The team defense was much better in the second half, as the closeouts to Toronto’s shooters were on-point as defenders such as Nwaba and Osman navigated through Marc Gasol and others’ screens in a fluid manner, and that was nice to see, as closeouts have been an issue for Cleveland most of the season, but in the last few weeks, the Cavs have been showing better habits when contesting shooters, even if the results haven’t always materialized.

Love continued to show he’s one of this team’s primary leaders yesterday, too, and his ability to draw timely charges help-side (as he showed yesterday) has to give his Cleveland Cavaliers’ teammates a jolt.

Love’s seven charges drawn post-All-Star break is tied for the most in the NBA, according to NBA.com.

He touched on how the Cavs’ half-court defense was some of their best this year yesterday, per Fox Sports Ohio.

For the most part, the Cavs have been playing like a completely different team with Love healthier and playing considerable minutes, and their young pieces are progressing nicely.

We’ll see how the Cavaliers do tonight against the Philadelphia 76ers on the road. As Sam Amico of Amico Hoops noted, though (I would imagine with it being a back-to-back), Love will “sit out strictly for precautionary reasons.”