TORONTO, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Cleveland Cavaliers had double-digit scoring from eight players in a 119-95 victory on Saturday night over Toronto Raptors to stretch their winning streak to nine games.
Big man Jarrett Allen finished with a team-high 18 points and 15 rebounds for his 24th double-double of the season and 19th in the past 22 games. Forward Evan Mobley also added a double-double of 17 points and 11 boards.
Guard Donovan Mitchell had a modest game with 15 points and six assists. The 27-year-old, who was named All-Star starter last week, is having a career year averaging personal-bests in points (28.5), assists (6.3), steals (1.9) and blocks (0.5).
Max Strus and Darius Garland finished with 14 and 11 points respectively to round out the starters.
Since January 3, the Cavs have caught fire, winning 17 of 18 games to propel themselves to a 35-16 record and a No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, only trailing top seed Boston (40-12) by 4.5 games.
Head coach J. B. Bickerstaff credits his team's defense-first mindset as the reason for their impressive run.
"I think our guys have completely bought into the idea of what they're capable of defensively and understand how important that is for our success," added Bickerstaff after the game. "They take pride in it, they get upset when someone scores on them."
During the streak, Cleveland has outscored opponents by a league-best 16.8 points a game. Cleveland's league-leading defense allows opponents to 102.8 points on 43.5 percent from the field, while their offense ranks only 12th with 119.7 points scored per game.
"We just want opponents to feel us," said Bickerstaff after holding Toronto to 40.2 percent in the game and 95 points. "We continue to add offensive firepower and talent, but in our mind we want to be elite defensively. That allows you to sustain success." ■
