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October 29, 2010
TORONTO (CP) -- One point short of securing everyone in the crowd a free pizza slice and with mere seconds remaining in a rout, Marcus Banks sent up an alley-oop pass that Leandro Barbosa neatly laid it in to get the Toronto Raptors over the hump.
The 15,711 fans in attendance love it. The Cleveland Cavaliers did not.
There was no mercy from the Raptors in the battle of teams jilted by their superstars Friday night, as Andrea Bargnani scored 20 points and Linas Kleiza added 19 to pace a balanced attack in an 101-81 blow out.
Barbosa's layup was the exclamation point on a feel-good evening for the home side, but one that left the visitors angry after the final whistle.
``A little bickering, a little complaining,'' was how Raptors guard Sonny Weems described the Cleveland reaction on the floor. ``We weren't trying to disrespect them, we weren't trying to humiliate them or nothing. We did that for our fans. You get 100 points, fans get pizza and that's every game with us.
``Even if we lose we still try to get 100 points just for the fans, for fan appreciation.''
While Cavaliers head coach Byron Scott offered only a stern ``no comment'' when asked about the layup, Raptors counterpart Jay Triano had plenty to say. He noted that turnabout is fair play and that any complaining should stop right there.
``You know, how many years did we watch them dance down there with all the hoop and hollering and everything?'' he said. ``It's a different team so it probably wasn't the right thing to do to score, but our fans come to these games and they're going to be here to support us for 41 games and we play this team three more times.
``I'd rather look after our fans first.''
DeMar DeRozan added 14 points while Weems and Barbosa chipped in 13 each as the Raptors (1-1) delivered an effort that was much more crisp than the one in Wednesday's season-opening loss to the Knicks.
They shot 47.6 per cent in their first victory of the post-Chris Bosh era, although talk about the all-star power forward's departure still lingers.
Bosh joined The Fan 590 on Friday morning to clarify his comments earlier in the week, when he said his decision to join the Miami Heat was ``all about being on TV at the end of the day.'' He told the Toronto all-sports radio station he made the comment but not ``in the context of why I made my decision'' and that he left ``to put myself in the best position to win championships.''
The Cavaliers (1-1) are still picking up the pieces and were further depleted Friday by the absences of point guard Mo Williams (groin) and centre Anderson Varejao, who stayed home to be with his ill father.
Antwan Jamison led the Cavs with 13 points while Anthony Parker added 10 as they shot 38.1 per cent from the floor.
``We went backwards,'' said Scott. ``We just seemed like the fat cats and they seemed like a team that was really out there trying to get a win.''
The Raptors took the lead for good at 7:52 of the first quarter and steadily built it up until blowing things wide open in the third, when they stretched their advantage to 22 points. DeRozan's reverse layup capped a 17-5 run to close out the period and make it 77-55.
That reduced the fourth quarter to little more than a glorified scrimmage session, as players used the 12 minutes to pad their stats.
``We needed a little bit of confidence,'' Triano said with the team now facing a tough four-game swing out west. ``Ideally, we would have liked to start at home with two wins and you can't worry about the other night now, so I thought our guys responded well at practice and did what we asked them to do.
``I thought we were full value for the effort at both ends of the floor.''
The Raptors led 46-38 at the half, an advantage cut into by Parker's buzzer-beating three. Their advantage stretched up to 12 with three minutes left when Bargnani collected a loose ball, layed it in and made the ensuing free-throw.
Despite a sloppy opening, the Raptors led 24-20 after a first quarter highlighted by a Jarrett Jack steal and slam about five minutes into the period.
``We have a team that we can't take steps back,'' said Kleiza. ``We've got to keep building on it and it's not going to be an easy process, it's not going to be easy sailing, there's going to be a lot of challenges in our way but we've got to stick together.
``We all know we need to play defence. Hopefully on this road trip, hanging out together, we're going to become even more of a team because there's going to be a lot of challenges.''
Notes: Jack turned 27 on Thursday and for a gift, head coach Jay Triano said the team's rookies sang Happy Birthday to him in the morning. ``We had to teach it to them,'' Triano added with a smirk. The players had a party at a nightclub planned for him after the game. ... Bargnani's three-pointer early in the second quarter gave him sole possession of third place on the Raptors' all-time list. He and Doug Christie had been tied at 431. Morris Peterson is the all-time leader with 801, followed by Vince Carter's 554. ... Parker and fellow former Raptor Jamario Moon were given nice ovations during pre-game introductions.