The Toronto Raptors hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night and they knew they would be in for a tough matchup without Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka in the lineup.
However, thanks to a huge first quarter performance by Jonas Valanciunas and the Raptors’ bench stepping up in a massive way throughout the first half, Toronto took a big 25-point lead over the Cavs into halftime.
One player in particular who came into the game off the bench and stepped up in a big way was Jakob Poeltl. Midway through the second quarter, LeBron James sent a pass to Jae Crowder that he thought would lead to an easy dunk, but the Raptors big man wasn’t letting that happen on his watch.
Not only did he deny Crowder and the Cavs from adding two points on the board, but he helped the Raps add two points to their lead.
(H/T Twitter/NBAonTNT)
