East Notes: Cavs, Bucks, Raptors

Cavaliers

• The Cavs are the only team in the NBA in the top four in both offensive and defensive rating, as relayed by Marc Stein of The Stein Line. “I’m a believer,” Stein wrote.
• John Hollinger of The Athletic wrote: “The Cavs have arguably been the best team in the league and, with a core of four players aged 26 or younger, are positioned to hold this perch for a while.”
• Meanwhile, John Hollinger of NBA.com had the Cavs ranked second overall in his latest power rankings. “The Cavs have the league’s top-ranked bench and have outscored their opponents by 22.1 points per 100 possessions in Kevin Love’s 178 minutes on the floor,” Hollinger wrote prior to Monday’s loss to the Clippers.
• The Cavs aren’t exactly panicked about that loss, by the way, as we relayed in this post.

Bucks

• The Bucks also lost on Monday, their first of the season, despite the fact they haven’t had injured All-Star forward Khris Middleton available yet. “Home-heavy schedule or not, Milwaukee has my attention with its very serious start,” Stein wrote.
• Despite the loss, the Bucks remain No. 1 in the ESPN power rankings. “Milwaukee continues to protect the rim at an elite level with Brook Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo patrolling the paint while making good on their preseason promise to cut the number of 3s they give up — limiting teams to 31.6 in 2022-23 after allowing an NBA record 40.6 attempts last season,” wrote Jamal Collier of ESPN.

Raptors

The Raptors are looking for someone to step up, given that forward Pascal Siakam is out with an abductor injury.

“I think if you’re on the end of the rotation, your eyes should be big and your mouth should be watering ready to go out there and be hungry,” guard Fred VanVleet said, via Dave Feschuck of the Toronto Star.

• As Tim Bontemps of ESPN noted, Siakam “was playing like a first-team All-NBA forward before he suffered an adductor strain. Now, the Raptors will have to lean even harder into their length and depth — including rookie starting center Christian Koloko — to make up for his absence.”