Cavs still perfect at home after rout of Raptors

The Cleveland Cavaliers never gave the Toronto Raptors a chance to threaten their undefeated record at home, surging to a 37-15 advantage after one quarter and never trailing en route to a 101-83 victory at the Quicken Loans Arena on Tuesday night.  With the victory, Cleveland’s record at home improved to 23-0—the fourth best such mark from the start of the season since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976.

Cleveland was led by LeBron James, who scored 33 points and added 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocked shots.  In the process, he scored his 12,000th career point and has reached that mark faster than any player in NBA history.  LeBron reached that mark at the age of 24 years, 25 days eclipsing Kobe Bryant by over a year (Kobe didn’t reach the 12k plateau until the relatively geriatric age of 25 years, 220 days). 

The amazing thing about LeBron is not his ability to put the ball in the hole, but how quickly he’s matured as a player and team leader.  He’s received raves for his character, toughness and leadership—qualities that Kobe Bryant is just now growing into.  Cavs coach Mike Brown gets to watch LeBron every night and served this chilling notice to the rest of the league:

"He's still going to get better. That's the scary thing."

Daniel Gibson scored 18 off of the bench, and Mo Williams continued his solid play with 16 points and 9 assists.  The Cavs’ locker room has been hit by the flu bug, and Sasha Pavlovic and Lorenzen Wright were scratched from the lineup as a result.  Key reserve Wally Szczerbiak got the start in Pavlovic’s place and responded with 15 points.  The only real bright spot for Toronto was the return to form of Chris Bosh after a bad game against Orlando on Sunday, scoring 29 points.  Jermaine O’Neal added 20 points and 8 rebounds, while center Andrea Bargnani just qualified for a “double/double” with 10 points and 10 rebounds. 

The Cavs will travel to Madison Square Garden for a game against the New York Knicks on Wednesday night, before putting their undefeated home mark on the line once again against the formidable challenge of the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.  The Cavs may be catching a break hosting the Lakers when they do, as Los Angeles will be without power forward Andrew Bynum and off of a tough game against the Boston Celtics.  The Raptors will get a crack at the Lakers before both Boston and Cleveland, hosting the Western Conference leaders on Wednesday night.  They’ll then face back-to-back road games on Friday and Saturday as the travel to New Orleans and Memphis.