Cleveland @ Toronto preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 16, 2019 ) Cleveland 113, Toronto 133

The Toronto Raptors are battling hard despite a string of injuries but couldn't quite find enough offense on the second night of a back-to-back and fell at home to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday. The Raptors will take a day off before they try to bounce back while hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday.

Toronto is without center Marc Gasol (hamstring), power forward Pascal Siakam (groin) and shooting guard Norman Powell (shoulder) but earned a 113-97 win at Boston on Saturday and took the Thunder down to the wire in Sunday's 98-97 setback. The loss dropped the Raptors to 3-3 in the six games since the three all went down in the same contest and none are expected back for Tuesday's game. The Cavaliers are putting together their best stretch of the season with wins in four of the last five games and dominated at the defensive end on Saturday at Minnesota, holding the Timberwolves to 35.5 percent from the floor. "Our defense was everything to us tonight," Cleveland coach John Beilein told reporters after the win. "If you look at the shooting stats, our contest rate was really high, and we got there. They missed a lot of shots, but I think we made them miss a lot of shots. Offensively, there was nothing pretty on both sides, but some days you rely on your defense."

TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Ohio (Cleveland), TSN4 (Toronto)

ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (10-22): Cleveland tied an NBA season high with 29 turnovers and went 4-of-20 from 3-point range on Saturday but still managed to pull out the win thanks to its efforts on the defensive end. "When we made them miss today, we were really good at cleaning things up," Beilein told reporters. "There were very few opportunities that they had for that second shot, so we have been doing a good job all year at that. I mean, our team has ... I think our defensive rebounding percentage is one of the better ones in the league and it showed today." The Cavaliers recorded a 61-39 rebounding advantage over the Timberwolves as Tristan Thompson hauled in a team-high 15 boards.

ABOUT THE RAPTORS (22-11): Toronto is leaning on the rest of its roster with the three key players out and got 20 points apiece from Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet and a double-double from Serge Ibaka on Sunday. The Raptors could use more from small forward OG Anunoby, who went 3-of-12 from the floor and 0-of-7 from beyond the arc in Sunday's setback. Anunoby, who averages 11.2 points, was held to single digits in four of his last five games and is 2-of-19 from 3-point range over the last five contests.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Cavaliers PF Kevin Love (hip contusion) sat out Saturday and is day-to-day.

2. Raptors SG Patrick McCaw is averaging 15.5 points on 13-of-21 shooting over the last two games.

3. Toronto earned a 133-113 home win over Cleveland on Dec. 16 behind 33 points from Siakam and 26 from Powell.

PREDICTION: Raptors 108, Cavaliers 92