The Cleveland Cavaliers lost yet another game by double-digits, this time falling to the Toronto Raptors by a score of 133-113.
This result is not entirely surprising. The Cleveland Cavaliers are not a good basketball team and the Toronto Raptors are. Even with subtracting Kawhi Leonard from the equation, Toronto is head and shoulders above the Cavaliers in terms of talent. Cleveland has now dropped 16 of their past 18 games.
Cleveland did not outscore Toronto in any quarter, the closest they came to accomplishing that was tying the Raptors with 29 points in the 4th quarter. Fast break points and overall shooting percentage were the difference in the game. Toronto scored 29 fast break points compared to Cleveland’s four. A combination of speed from Toronto and poor transition defense led to that discrepancy. Scoring easy buckets next to the basket will certainly provide a boost in terms of shooting percentage. The Raptors made 58.4% of their shots, that is an incredible performance from Toronto and an unacceptable defensive effort from Cleveland. Whether it is due to inability or a lack of effort, there is no way they should let an opponent make nearly 60% of their shots in a game.
Positives
Surprisingly, there are some positives. Collin Sexton and Darius Garland both scored 20+ points in the same game for the first time. Sexton made 10 of 16 attempts while Garland went 7-14 including 4-8 from deep. That’s great to see from a development standpoint. Cleveland is going to need Sexton and Garland to be their main scoring threats in the future. Finding a way that both are able to score in this manner will be key for the Cavaliers moving forward.
Tension on the court
There was a moment in the first quarter where there was clear tension between Kevin Love and Collin Sexton. After Toronto scored it was quite obvious that Love and Sexton were not happy with each other. The root of the disagreement appeared to be over defensive assignments. The fact that something that seems like a relatively common occurrence caused this to be an issue is alarming. In fact, this helps the argument to why Kevin Love should be traded.
