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Cavs Clip Raptors' Run, Take Season Series in Toronto

Wrap-Up – it’s been a while since the Wine and Gold have had to weather a run after building up a substantial lead. But they did exactly that on Wednesday in Toronto, holding off a hot-shooting Toronto team and hanging on for the 120-112 win at the Air Canada Center.

The victory both clinches the season series against Toronto and moves Cleveland into a virtual three-way tie for the second spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race with less than 20 games to play.

LeBron James scored 15 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter – although some of that groundwork was probably laid near the end of the third, when Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas clotheslined him coming through the lane on a drive to the basket. Valanciunas was hit with a flagrant-1 and LeBron was sufficiently motivated for the rest of the night. He finished with a game-high 14 assists to go with six boards.

Kyrie Irving followed up with 26 points, as all five Cavs starters notched double-digits. In his second game back from a strained left shoulder, the three-time All-Star went 9-for-17 from the floor and 7-of-7 from the stripe, adding eight assists and a pair of boards.

Kevin Love did most of his damage in the second quarter, going 3-for-3 from beyond the arc in the period where tallying 11 of his 22 points. JR. Smith had another solid all-around game – finishing with 15 points, eight boards and a pair of blocked shots. And Timofey Mozgov rounded out the starters in double-figures with 10 points and five boards despite playing just nine minutes in the second half.

Cleveland’s reserves were led by James Jones – who stayed hot with 14 points off the bench, going 4-of-7 from long-distance. Since February 20, Jones is shooting 53 percent (17-of-32) from three-point range.

Both teams shot the ball well on Wednesday – Cleveland went a combined 51 percent for the night; the Raptors, 54 percent. And despite the Raptors hitting eight straight treys in the second half, the Wine and Gold drilled 15 of them on the night – the most allowed by Toronto this season.

J.R. Smith

LBJ and KLove record double-doubles.

View some of the best snapshots.

J.R. Smith knocks down a cluth triple.

Go inside the locker room.

Watch final game highlights from Wednesday's victory.

Turning Point

After thumping Boston at The Q the previous evening, Cleveland was cruising again on Wednesday, extending their lead to 19 points early in the third quarter. But Lou Williams caught fire to close the quarter and his teammates followed suit to start the fourth. And at the midway point of the fourth, Terrence Ross’ trey gave the Raptors a brief one-point lead. But less than a minute later James Jones buried his fourth triple of the night, the Cavs eventually pushed their lead to nine and never looked back.

By the Numbers8,000/5,000 … career point plateaus exceeded by Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, respectively, on Wednesday night in Toronto.

QuotableKevin Love, on the team fighting through Toronto’s third quarter run …

”We just stayed together. We had multiple talks in the timeouts and the huddles and just continued to stay with it. This is a group of guys who know what it takes to win basketball games and different guys are going to step up on different nights. I thought James Jones, in particular, was great for us tonight.”

Up Next -- Following Wednesday night’s 120-112 victory in Toronto, the Cavaliers’ tough road stretch continues on Friday night when they travel to the Dirty South to take on the East-leading Hawks at Philips Arena. The Wine and Gold make a quick stop at The Q on Saturday night, playing their fourth game in five nights when they take on the Phoenix Suns. After that, they get right back on the road – playing two games in the Lone Star State – on Tuesday in Dallas and Thursday in San Antonio – before closing out the trip with a Sunshine State back-to-back, on Sunday in Orlando and the following night against the Heat on South Beach.