NBA Saturday: Cavaliers handle Spurs, Warriors survive 76ers

Yet there’s enough evidence this season that suggests these Raptors are in fact different. Even the biggest critics should think twice before discounting a trip to the Eastern conference finals.

Skinny Kyle Lowry made news earlier in the season but the other All-Star (DeMar DeRozan) and the bench have undergone similar transformations. On a night in which Lowry struggled (4-for-15 from the field, zero assists), DeRozan showed off his improvement by scoring a tidy 29 points in 21 shots while dishing out four assists. It was by no means a standout performance but he got to the line, as he has been doing all season long, and continued to find ways to get to the rim.

Drake has been an integral part of the Toronto Raptors’ recent rebranding. The team has even gone so far as to change their uniforms, paying tribute to Drake’s OVO brand in their alternate uniforms.

But now Drake and the Toronto Raptors are taking a step further. Drake took some time during the Raptors-Pistons game to call a few plays. And based on his call during this block, he sounds like a natural.

That’s what made Saturday’s game so important. After firing David Blatt, the Cavaliers had played uninspired basketball for the most part. They needed to prove to themselves that they can compete with everyone and make a statement to the rest of the league.

Dropping 66 points in the first half on the best defense in the league took care of that early in the evening.

DeMarcus Cousins suffered a sprained left ankle Saturday that forced the Kings’ All-Star out of the game. The injury occurred late in the fourth quarter when Memphis’ Marc Gasol fell into Cousins’ ankle. Cousins had to be helped off the court by trainers. X-rays were negative and he was diagnosed with a sprained ankle, according to Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee.

Cousins had injured his ankle earlier in the game, but he was able to re-enter at the time. The second injury appeared much more serious as Cousins ankle appeared to get trapped under Gasol as he fell to the court. Cousins did not appear able to put much weight on the leg as he was helped off the court.

The Cavaliers are outright dominating the San Antonio Spurs and nothing sums up the game more than this LeBron James block on Manu Ginobili. It looks like LeBron is toying with him, giving him enough space to create hope but then dismantling it as the ball hits the backboard.

The block was so hard that we’re a little concerned for the backboard. That rejection was thunderous!

The Cavaliers broke out the throwback uniforms on Saturday -- well, most of the Cavaliers did. Early in the game, LeBron James’ shorts were noticeably missing something.

Four of the Cavaliers have striped shorts to match their striped jerseys. For whatever reason James did not. Maybe he didn’t like the look of the shorts. Maybe he was more comfortable in the other shorts. Maybe an equipment manager laid out the wrong shorts and James simply didn’t notice.

As the Cavaliers prepared to face the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night, the Cavs’ Twitter gave us the best throwback gift: Cavs Train! An obvious homage to the old show Soul Train, the vid features the Cavs donning bellbottoms and busting a move. It’s the 1970s all over again! The only thing missing was Don Cornelius.

J.R. Smith seems really into it.

SB Nation presents: Harrison Barnes scoring on the entire Bulls team

It was the Warriors’ 26th assist of the first half, which ties a franchise record. That’s a ridiculous amount. No team outside of Golden State averages 26 assists per game, and they did it in just two quarters, with all 11 players that got minutes contributing at least one assist each.

The Warriors are not just special because they have Stephen Curry. They are doing things as a team that we’ve rarely seen before.