Raptors’ weaknesses exposed in road loss to Cavaliers
The Raptors’ sharp ball movement of late gave way to a barrage of missed shots and stagnant offence in Cleveland.
And they learned there is still a ways to go.
In another entertaining game that went down to the wire, the Raptors just didn’t do enough of the good things they had been doing and dropped a 105-102 decision to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night.
And they learned there is still a ways to go.
In another entertaining game that went down to the wire, the Raptors just didn’t do enough of the good things they had been doing and dropped a 105-102 decision to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night.
A season-long issue of bad free-throw shooting arose once again: the 28th-ranked team at the foul line went 20 for 29.
Transition defence was also an issue. The Cavaliers had 21 fast-break points, and the Raptors were continually slow to get back.
And still, they were in it until the end.
As impressive as Toronto’s offence has been of late, there remains room for improvement at this still-early stage of the regular season. Discovering who needs the ball where and when doesn’t happen overnight.
“It’s always been: You’ve got to figure out each other in a team,” the Raptors’ Pascal Siakam said. “We’ve just got to all continue to grow, and Scottie (Barnes) has gotta grow, I gotta grow. Just figuring out what we want to do as an offence and even defensively, you know, how to help each other.”
Barnes and Siakam are different offensive players, and trying to find a way to capitalize on their divergent skills is taking time.
“I think Scottie is stronger and he is more dynamic of a roller; Pascal is looking more for opportunities to post up and take advantage there,” coach Darko Rajakovic said. “But it’s interesting to see how this chemistry is continuing to develop, and just hearing those two guys — ‘When I do this, you can do that’ — learning each other in those situations as well.”
Offensively, Rajakovic describes the team’s overall scheme as a movable feast.
“And when we play like that (sharing the load) there is more to divide, and that’s the model that we’re going after: everybody eats, and everybody’s playing together. Everybody’s gotta share.”
The offensive load was once again shared. Six Raptors were in double figures, Siakam and Jakob Poeltl each had 18 points, and no one took more than 17 shots.
But the Raptors allowed Cleveland’s Max Strus to score 20 points in the third quarter alone, in what was the game-deciding performance for the Cavaliers. The Raptors were able to stay in the game with an impressive defensive effort at times. They held the Cavaliers without a basket for a stretch of more than five minutes to take a 10-point halftime lead.
The weakness, though, was some bad transition defence. The Cavaliers had 14 first-half fast-break points.
Too much arguing for calls by the Raptors after misses and just a lack of hustle getting back are issues that need to be addressed.
In halfcourt sets, the Raptors are a stingy defensive team. When they let opponents get easy run-out baskets, it takes away from all the good that they do.
