Five-Star Review: Raptors are still hunting, Cavs are still broken

LET'S LEAD THIS OFF WITH LOU WILLIAMS BEING A KILLER THREAT FOR THE RAPTORS OFF THE BENCH: The Cleveland Cavaliers came out of the gates clicking on all cylinders. They were moving the ball, scoring from all over the floor, and getting a lot of defensive stops. Lou Williams checked in for the Toronto Raptors with his team down 20-5 and immediately started going to work against the Cavs' backcourt. And he torched them all night long. They chipped away at the deficit throughout the entire second quarter, eventually drawing even with Cleveland with a little over a minute to go. 

They had Williams to thank for this. He dropped 24 points just in the first half alone and the Cavs didn't know what to do with him. The plus/minus statistic is a bizarre one to look at, especially in single game form because there can be so much noise that interferes with that number. In the case of Williams against the Cavs, it's as clear as day. Lou scored 36 points on the night and was a plus-37 points for the game. It accurately portrays his impact on the game.

The Raptors won their fourth in a row and moved to 11-2 in the East. That's the top record. They're not actually the North of the NBA geographically, but they're the North in the standings in the East.

NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT THE CAVALIERS ONCE AGAIN PLAYING WORSE AS THE GAME GOES ON: From the start of the second quarter through the end of the game, the Cavs were outscored 89-59 by the Raptors. The Cavs held Toronto to just 44.1 percent from the field in those final three quarters, but they allowed 34 free throw attempts and only forced five turnovers. The defense wasn't bad necessarily, but it didn't create opportunities for the Cavs to dictate the tempo and flow of this game.

And that's the real issue here. They never have control of the games they're in. Good teams don't suffer through those problems; they just don't. Cleveland was sloppy with the ball, they missed a bunch of open shots, and they missed a lot of free throws. This is just not how good teams win basketball games. So are the Cavs a good team? In theory, yes. In application so far, it remains to be seen. They have flashes but those flashes become dying embers on these losses piling up.

LeBron isn't getting through to them or he isn't playing well enough or the chemistry isn't there yet or the coaching isn't getting it right or the young players are selfish or insert whatever you want to believe about the situation. I'm not sure any of it is bad. What is bad is the body language going on. With the Raptors up big in the second half, LeBron needed someone to cut to the basket to clear the lane for him. Instead, the ball got poked out of bounds.

He yells for somebody to cut and then uses a word not suitable for television:

Things could be going better.

BY THE WAY, ANDREW WIGGINS HAD A CAREER-HIGH 29 POINTS TONIGHT: Just in case, Cavs fans were wondering how that young fella was doing in Minnesota. In a loss to the Kings, Wiggins had 29 points on 9-of-22 shooting, 9-of-10 from the line, five rebounds, and four steals. You still do that trade but this happening on the same night won't stop people from slapping that panic button.

THE SUNS' BENCH DEMOLISHED THE BROKEN PACERS: The Phoenix Suns' bench scored 63 points Saturday night against the Indiana Pacers. You'd expect the combination of Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic to go off against the Pacers' backcourt or maybe even for the Morris twins to have big games. But it was actually the combination of Gerald Green (23 points), Isaiah Thomas (16 points), and Anthony Tolliver (11 points) that carried the Suns throughout most of this game. 

Green scored 12 straight for the Suns at one point against his former team. It helps that Roy Hibbert only played a handful of minutes before going down for the night with a sprained ankle. 

CHRIS BOSH VS. NIKOLA VUCEVIC WAS A TREAT: In Florida, the Orlando Magic hung with the Miami Heat for most of that game, but couldn't survive the Heat's late-game execution. The best matchup of the night was between Chris Bosh and Nikola Vucevic. Vucevic was a monster inside, tipping rebounding opportunities to himself, and finding various ways to score around the basket. He reminded Heat players and their fans that those strong interior presences can really give Miami troubles on any given night. Vucevic finished with 33 points and 17 rebounds (11 offensive). 

The Heat were able to remind everybody else that when Chris Bosh is on his game, there aren't a lot of big men in the NBA that can hang with him. Bosh hit four 3-pointers in route to finishing with 32 points and 10 rebounds. 14 of Bosh's 32 came in the fourth quarter on an absurdly efficient 5-of-6 shooting. This was a great juxtaposition of different styles of big men with both having big nights. The Heat won 99-92 on the road.

MARIO CHALMERS KIND OF TOOK OVER FOR MIAMI AND IT WORKED: The takeover by Mario Chalmers in that game was also a sight to see. And it worked! Chalmers finished with 24 points overall but 10 of those points came in the final period when Miami needed someone to supplement the offense it was getting from Bosh. The inside-out combination between the two ended up being too much.

Nobody is yelling at Mario tonight. At least not until they get on the team plane.

THE CAVS COMMITTED A FOUL ONE SECOND INTO THE GAME: Anderson Varejao seriously fouled Jonas Valanciunas one second into Saturday night's game. That has to set or tie a record. It's almost as impressive as the two times Darko Milicic injured himself on jump balls. 

Twice.

DEMARCUS COUSINS IS JUST UNFAIR:  Andrew Wiggins had a great night for the Timberwolves, but DeMarcus Cousins dominated that game in Sacramento's road victory. Granted, the Wolves were missing Nikola Pekovic, who typically does a great job of using his strength inside to frustrate Cousins. But he was unavailable and Cousins was not going to take it easy on the depleted frontcourt. He's out for blood this season.

Nothing showed his strength and patience in the post better than this move against Gorgui Dieng. This was an improvement somehow after one a previous possession, the Wolves had to use Shabazz Muhammad and Robbie Hummel as the two big men in the lineup. Apparently, bringing Dieng into the game doesn't solve any of that problem.

Cousins finished with 31 points on 11-of-15 shooting and 18 rebounds.

SHABAZZ MUHAMMAD CAN REALLY GET UP: Shabazz Muhammad lost heaps of pounds this offseason and now he seems to take off from around the dotted line for a big dunk at least once a game. 

THE HARDEN FLOP EVOLVES INTO THE HARDEN PUSH: James Harden has a bit of a reputation for flopping around the NBA and with fans.

I can't imagine how that started...

THE PHILADELPHIA 76ERS: I'm not even sure how we talked about them in a non-mocking tone anymore. Maybe we should just move on. But hey, the Knicks got the win, which is something.

LET'S TALK A BIT MORE ABOUT THAT HOUSTON ROCKETS' VICTORY: The Rockets winning at home against the Mavericks isn't a huge deal, but it's an important win. Factor in that they held the Mavericks to under 40.0 percent from the field, under 20.0 percent from 3-point range, and just 92 points without Dwight Howard and now you've got my attention in the big victory department.

It happened for a couple of reasons. First, James Harden was fantastic. He finished with 32 points and hit some huge free throws down the stretch after drawing fouls. You need him to play like a superstar when Dwight isn't able to go. On top of that, they got big nights from Patrick Beverley and Donatas Motiejunas. Beverley contributed 20 points and Donuts had 14 points and 12 rebounds. The Rockets' offense was terrible also, but they played team defense that Kevin McHale has been begging for.

Kostas Papanikolaou also had a nice role player game off the bench, which gives me an excuse to post my Kostas PoppinLockinNow .gif in here:

THIS MANU GINOBILI PASS IS REALLY ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE SPURS-NETS GAME: The San Antonio Spurs didn't destroy the Brooklyn Nets but they controlled this game the entire time after getting a comfortable lead early.

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO HAD HIS BEST GAME BUT THE WIZARDS ARE JUST TOO GOOD: The Wizards won on the road yet again, giving them a 4-2 road record and a 9-3 record overall. Paul Pierce went off for 25 points, John Wall had 19 points, nine assists, five steals, and four rebounds, and Bradley Beal had 17 points and six assists off the bench. The Wizards are just too good for those middling teams right now.

But Giannis Antetokounmpo easily had his best game of the season as he was finally able to combine his scoring, rebound, and playmaking potential all into the same game. He scored 20 points, grabbed four boards, dished out five assists, and even plucked three steals. They're eventually going to need him and Jabari Parker to have good games together. The nice thing about this Giannis effort is he didn't attempt a single 3-pointer. He only took shots he can make and got to the free throw line eight times, making all of them.

It's not that he should never take 3's but he definitely shouldn't take a lot until he's comfortable shooting that shot.

SOBERING QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: I couldn't give it that 100 emoji the kids love to use so it'll get five stars but it feels like LeBron knows the dark days are just getting here for the Cavs...

ANTHONY DAVIS SET A CAREER-HIGH WITH 43 POINTS: How would you want to finish off a fun Saturday night of NBA action? Well, Anthony Davis setting his career-high with 43 points in a victory is not a bad way of going about it. He finished six different 3-point plays on the evening and went 16-of-23 overall along with 14 rebounds, two steals, and a block in the process.

His shot chart looks like a beautiful patch of land surrounded by a moat.