The past few games should have been nightmares for Pascal Siakam. With Gary Trent Jr. struggling, the Raptors have no spacing around him. Siakam’s game is about using that space, either as a driver or as a post threat, to dissect a defence. If opponents aren’t going to run out to shooters, there is nothing to dissect.
And yet, Siakam has been fighting like hell, which is a huge victory after last season’s questions about his mindset. He had 34 points on 20 field goal attempts against the Magic, the only consistent part of a poor attack.
Things weren’t as smooth against the Cavaliers, and one wouldn’t expect them to be. Cleveland’s interior defence is some of the best in the league. Siakam kept trying to get to the rim, though, finding his way to 13 free throws. He had 24 points, four assists and no turnovers.
Now, if he would bring his free-throw percentage up to that of prior seasons, it would be swell. He hit just seven of his attempts and is down to 73.6 percent for the season, more than 9 percentage points down from a season ago.
Siakam, Barnes try best, but can’t carry razor-thin Raptors lineup alone – Sportsnet
Not surprisingly Toronto is seeing a lot of zone defence as teams pack down the paint and dare them to shoot over them and once again, the Raptors haven’t been able to do it.
They were 1-of-10 from deep in the first half to 8-of-20 by the Cavs as Cleveland raced out to a 59-46 lead at the half.
To their credit Toronto’s defence picked up after the break, never more than in the opening moments of the third quarter. Toronto created a 13-2 run to start the third quarter that featured three steals and a drawn charge. Barnes had his hand in all of it with a pair of assists and a steal. Another assist by Barnes on a lay-up for Gary Trent Jr. pulled the Raptors within a point with 6:48 left in the period, but then the battery seemingly ran out on the Raptors offence.
They didn’t score a field goal for the rest of the quarter and were down 73-62 to start the fourth.
Given they are shorthanded and playing without a point guard, it was a tall order to expect the Raptors to pull all the way back from there and that proved the case.
The good news? There is optimism that VanVleet will be back in the lineup on Wednesday when the Raptors travel to San Antonio.
They could use him.
Recap: Raptors 96, Cavs 104 (or, Bench Mob Blues No More) – Cavs: The Blog
The Cavs’ stars rose to the occasion
The trio of Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Lauri Markkanen really carried the day for the Cavs in terms of having go-to players to finish the game off. All three turned in fantastic double double performances. DG turned in a tidy 17 points and 10 assists, the Finnisher had a team high 22 points and 12 rebounds, and Evan “the Professional” put in an efficient 20 points and posted a career high 17 rebounds. In order to win big in the NBA, a team’s best players have to play their best when the lights are bright. The extremely young Cavs’ stars did just that.
With a 104-96 win over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, Cleveland is now three games clear of Toronto and in sole possession of the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference. That, as it stands, puts the Cavs in the playoffs without having to worry about the play-in tournament.
Evan Mobley was key for the Cavs, scoring 20 points and tying his career-high with 17 rebounds in the win. Mobley also pulled down a career-best seven offensive rebounds as the Cavs as a team scored 26 second-chance points.
Darius Garland added 17 points and 10 assists for Cleveland with Lauri Markkanen finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Cedi Osman and Kevin Love added 17 and 15 points off the bench respectively.
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The game was competitive throughout. The Cavs led by as many as 18 points, but only held a one-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. It was a five-point game with 1:12 to play after Raptors big man Chris Boucher hit a three-point in front of the Cavs’ bench. Cleveland, however, was able to keep Toronto at bay with a mix of free throw shooting and stops in the final minute-plus.The Cavs were at times hamstrung by turnovers and, for the game, had 19 turnovers leading to 20 points for the Raptors. They also also center Jarrett Allen to a thigh contusion. Allen left the game near the end of the first quarter and did not return.
Toronto Raptors fall short, lose to Cleveland Cavaliers 104-96 – Raptors HQ
The game was par for the course for the Raptors of late. They held the Cavs to 40.5% shooting in the second half while forcing them to 17 turnovers the entire game, a +10 advantage. However, it was their offense that faltered several times tonight. With Pascal Siakam as the only credible offensive threat, the Cavs had the right personnel to wall off the paint and make it miserable for him. That he often had to start his drive from the perimeter gave help defenders time to get in his way while showing no respect to Siakam’s teammates around the perimeter. Siakam’s 8-for-22 shooting was not because he was terrible; it’s more of a byproduct of how bad his teammates were. I mean, you just can’t have a stretch like this:
To make the matter worse, the Raptors shot 16-for-26 from the free throw line on a game where they badly needed every single point. Siakam was the main culprit, going for 7-for-13 tonight. The Raptors also shot 6-for-24 from behind the arc, with half of the makes coming from Boucher.
Tonight’s game showed us the difference between these two teams’ depth. The Cavs had Cedi Osman and Kevin Love combining for 32 points, as the Cavs’ bench outscored their counterparts, 37-8. Precious Achiuwa started off great, scoring eight points, but we got the full “Precious Achiuwa Experience” as the game progressed. Dalano Banton, Thaddeus Young, Svi Mykhailiuk combined for a dubious 0-10 shooting. None of them looked shot-ready and capable of finishing plays off their teammates’ passes. Worse, they couldn’t even exploit a mismatch when it presents itself.
With Fred VanVleet and Malachi Flynn out, Scottie Barnes played the point, with Pascal Siakam as the secondary ballhandler. The Raptors’ defensive intensity started high for this game, forcing two Cavs turnovers from the get-go. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to convert on those opportunities.
Josh Lewenberg: Play-in tournament inevitable for Raptors after loss to Cleveland – TSN.ca
They had a tough time generating offence out of the gate. It took more than eight minutes for them to record their first assist of the night – a Boucher layup from Dalano Banton late in the opening quarter – but that’s a reflection of poor shooting as much or more than the lack of ball movement. You’re not getting an assist if nobody can hit a shot. Barnes and Siakam were doing their best to push the pace and get the Raptors into their sets, but there was very little space to operate in the half court – a running theme while VanVleet and Anunoby have been out, made even worse without Flynn, who had been playing the best basketball of his young career.
In seven games since the all-star break – all of them without Anunoby and the last five without VanVleet – Toronto is hitting 9.4 threes per game (29th in the NBA over that stretch) on 33 per cent shooting (26th in the league). It was hardly a surprise to see the Cavs break out their zone defence as often as they did on Sunday. The Raptors simply couldn’t beat it.
All things considered, Siakam is doing everything he can, despite drawing more defensive attention than he is to. He followed up an admirable 34-point performance in Friday’s loss to the last-place Magic with 24 points against Cleveland, although he missed six of his 13 free-throw attempts. Barnes was solid in spite of some defensive lapses, finishing with 19 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in his 42 minutes. Trent’s shooting slump continued; he was 2-for-8 from long distance and is hitting just 22 per cent of his threes since the break, but looked better overall, scoring 19. Boucher had 21 points in his spot start and helped fuel the late-game rally with his energy.
“I think we came in and knew what was at stake [and] obviously they did too,” Boucher said. “It’s two good teams playing for good position in the playoffs. Kudos to them, we tried to make runs, and they fought back. That’s a good team too. It was a fun game. Obviously we would have liked to have the win, but there’s only so much you can do.”
Once again, the Raptors were a victim of circumstance in a loss to Cleveland, and this one feels especially costly. With a win, Toronto would have pulled within one game of sixth place. Instead, the Cavs cushion for sixth grew to three games. They’ll also win the season series (they lead 3-0, with the final meeting coming in Toronto later this month) and take the tiebreaker.
Whatever chance the Raptors had of earning a guaranteed spot in the playoffs and avoiding the play-in tournament took a major hit on Sunday.
Raptors’ road to playoffs tougher after loss to Cavaliers | The Star
The Raptors held Cleveland to just 14 points in the third quarter, but only closed the halftime gap by two points. Toronto shot just less than 40 per cent from the field, made just seven three-pointers on the night and looked disjointed and out of sorts from the opening tip.
The shooting struggles of Gary Trent Jr. continued as he went 2-for-8 from three-point range and finished with 19 points. Pascal Siakam and Chris Boucher led the Raptors with 24 and 21 points, respectively. Trent was better than he’d been in consecutive losses to Detroit and Orlando and looked more himself, but he needs to provide more.
“I need to play better, need to shoot the ball better, go out there and do what I do, continue what I do, play my game,” he said. “Whatever happens, happens.”
The offensive woes stemmed mainly from poor shooting, but the lack of a true point guard to get the Raptors organized offensively was glaring. Scottie Barnes was the nominal point guard and did what he could, but play-calling, finding the right shooters and getting the offence in a halfcourt flow proved elusive. Barnes finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.
Scottie Barnes and the Raptors struggled to score for too many stretches in Sunday night’s loss to Isaac Okoro and the Clippers in Cleveland.
The Cavaliers had five players in double figures and scored too easily in transition.
“We’d always like to let our defence generate some transition basketball, that’s for sure,” Nurse said before the game. “We’ve had some good moments of that this season; we haven’t had great moments of that lately.”
The Raptors fell three games behind Cleveland in the race for sixth place in the East and the final guaranteed playoff berth, with just 18 games left in the season. And now having lost the season series to the Cavaliers, it will take a turnaround of gigantic proportions to make up the difference.
And if the Raptors don’t get at least VanVleet back soon, it’s hard to see how they can generate enough offence to steal many games.
Raptors Slide Continues with Loss to Cavaliers – Sports Illustrated
The offense is getting really tough to watch. At one point, Toronto went seven minutes to end the third quarter without a single bucket.
We’ve covered it a ton lately, but Gary Trent Jr.’s shooting funk is really bogging things down. It’s one thing to have injured shooters, but Trent’s inability to get things going since the All-Star break has left the Raptors without any reliable three-point shooters. He was 2-for-8 from behind the arc and at one point it got so bleak Toronto turned to the recently-signed Armoni Brooks to fill in and provide some floor spacing in the fourth quarter.
There’s optimism VanVleet won’t be too far away. The team is hoping to have him back on Wednesday, but every game he’s forced to miss is proving costly. Look no further than a 6-for-24 three-point shooting night Sunday.
“We have three players that are really like the core of our team that are not there, obviously with Fred and OG. You know, the spacing is a little different,” Boucher said. “Everybody gotta find their position and kind of their spots. We’re still learning, obviously. But like I said, it’s going to take a little bit of time.”
Raptors’ spirited effort can’t overcome lack of offence in loss to Cleveland Cavaliers | Toronto Sun
The Raptors’ defence was up to the task. The offence? Not so much.
The result was another loss in the books, their third in a row, this one a 104-96 defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers that moved three games ahead of the Raptors in that sixth spot in the East that ensures a team doesn’t have to mess with the play-in game or games when the playoffs begin.
Without Fred VanVleet for hopefully the last time, without OG Anunoby for the seventh straight game since the break and now without Malachi Flynn, the Raptors offence continues to struggle.
Pascal Siakam is back to form, but right now he’s a party of one when it comes to Raptors you can count on for a bucket with any consistency.
Gary Trent Jr’s struggles continue. Smoking hot going into the break, Trent Jr. is now a combined 11-for-52 from three-point land since the schedule resumed.
He was just 2-for-8 for three-pointers, a part of the Raptors’ woeful 6-for-24 performance from behind the arc last night.
Again this is not all on Trent Jr., he’s merely a victim of his earlier success when it felt like he couldn’t miss.
Still, Nurse saw hope in Trent Jr.’s offensive night.
“I think he had a good night I thought,” Nurse said. “I know it’s only seven of 19 (from the field), but to me at least another four or five of those go in and out, right. So he got some good clearance. Thought he got bumped on two or three others. He did get a couple free throws, but I thought he could add a few more. I thought he made pretty good decisions and it felt to me like when he shook his guy down and stepped back that he was going to make them tonight, which is certainly progress for sure.”
Bottom line, the Raptors just don’t have the scoring in the lineup when one of their remaining scorers struggles without VanVleet and Anunoby and now even Flynn .
The best stretch for Toronto in last night’s game came in the first few minutes of the third quarter when they came out on a 12-0 run.
But it was the defence that was pivotal in that stretch, first getting stops, but then quickly turning them into points and scoring off their own defence.
The Cavs were solidly in control of this one from the opening tip as Darius Garland handled the double-and-triple-team attention he got like a seasoned veteran, getting his teammates easy buckets from in close.
The opening for Toronto came due to some bad luck on the part of the Cavs. All-star and shot blocker extraordinaire Jarrett Allen was making life difficult on any Raptor getting to the rim until a collision on the offensive end left him with a bruised thigh that took him out of the game for the remainder of the evening.
