Recap: Raptors 133, Cavs 99 (Or, Let’s Beat A Decomposed Horse)

The Cavs fell to the Raptors by 34 points. It was another night of lackadaisical effort on both ends of the floor. At this point anything I say is beating a decomposed horse. It was a dead horse when the Cavs were playing so poorly early in the season. It’s not fair to let the horse live forever. He could be getting beat on the rest of the season. Eventually, the horse should be allowed to decompose completely and be left alone.It’s the most humane thing for him.

The Cavs were out-rebounded, 63-35 (18-9 on offensive boards). They were beat from 3. The Raptors went 18-42 from deep, while the Cavs made just six of their 26 tries.

Cleveland hit zero 3s in the first half, despite averaging 12.5 total a game prior to tonight. They were outscored in the paint, 66-50. The Raptors shot 50% from the field, while the Cavs shot 38.2%. And, Toronto was without two of their top three players. Serge Ibaka missed the game due to a suspension for an altercation with James Johnson of the Heat. Kyle Lowry missed the game because of a back injury. Those two account for 30 points a night.

The Cavs started the evening disappointing on both ends of the floors. It didn’t take long for it to go bad. In fact, just two minutes in this tweet popped up.

Done with this team. They know what their problems are and they simply don’t care. Zero effort on D. Zero effort rebounding. Just standing around hoping the other team misses and the ball falls in their lap. #CavsRaptors

— Cory spence (@coryaspence) January 12, 2018

Of the Raptors’ first six offensive possessions, the Cavs left shooters wide open on four of them. It quickly became pointless to even track blown coverage because the Cavs were clearly not going to put forth any effort. They were content to let two, three, and even four players end up covering any ball handler using a screen. And, given the overall lack of effort, it was no surprise that Jonas Valanciunas had nine points and nine boards, including three offensive boards, in seven minutes before having to head to the bench with two fouls. He finished the night with 15 points and 18 boards. Thankfully, the Raptors didn’t make all of their open shots. C.J. Miles hit two contested 3s on his way to nine first quarter points, 22 for the night, and the rest of the them hit just one of seven wide open deep attempts.

Offensively, Cleveland ran essentially zero  sets. 11 of their first 18 points (in the first 7:45 of play) came in transition situations where they beat the Raptors down the floor. Two more of those 18 points came from a Tristan Thompson tip-in. LeBron James assured the Cavs didn’t get completely blown out right away. He had 11 on 5-7 shooting. He finished the evening with 26 points, one assist, and three boards. TT had a hand in keeping the first quarter deficit a respectable 30-26 too. He had four offensive boards and seven points (four from put-backs). He finished the evening playing just 23 minutes, grabbing eight boards, and getting eight points. Kevin Love also played 23 minutes, but was very unproductive. He had ten points on 2-8 shooting to go with nine boards for the whole night.

The Cavs didn’t look any better in the second quarter, as they were outscored 35-16. Cleveland hit just 5-20. Enough said. They took just three 3s. And, the Raptors had three different players score over eight points. Jakob Poeltl scored just three in the quarter, but he had three blocks. Two of them came in the middle of the quarter and led to a 3-pointer and a reverse layup the Cavs did nothing to deter despite guys being right at the rim.

The Block And Score:

The entire evening seemed to go that way for Cleveland. Random Raptors stepped up and contributed in all sorts of ways, while the Cavs wilted. Toronto entered the half up by 25, despite DeMar DeRozan having only two points and going 1-7 from the floor. He did have seven assists though. DeRozan finished the night putting up 13 points and hitting three 3s, all of which came in the third.

I don't see the problem here. They trailed Minnesota by 27 at the half Monday. They're only down 25 at the half tonight. #progress

— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) January 12, 2018

The Cavs didn’t even turn the game around in the third quarter. They opened the quarter getting smoked by an 8-2 run. LeBron responded with a lackluster step-back 3, which he bricked. Delon Wright just took the ball down the court and scored with no trouble at all after Valanciunas secured the board.

The Raptors went cold in the quarter for several minutes, which probably can’t be contributed to the Cavs’ efforts. I imagine they got sick of all the wide open looks. However, they finished out the action super hot hitting five 3s in the final 3:50. They were 8-15 for the quarter. The Cavs matched them though with a variety of shots, so they entered the fourth down 28.

The fourth was entirely garbage time, and even the Cavs bench was unable to do much of anything. The were on the end of just as many highlights as the starters were.

Gripes

1. There are almost too many bad things to list tonight, so I’ll keep this simple. The Cavs don’t give a damn right now. The team seems to think that boxing out is a crime. It’s not. Skateboarding is though, so maybe Tyronn Lue should give all the players on the team those old Santa Cruz shirts that say “skateboarding is not a crime” so they know what is and isn’t illegal. The lack of boxing out is a good way to put this game in perspective.
2. Look at this video of J.R. Smith (o points, 0-5) in the third quarter. In it he forgets to box out after DeMar DeRozan gets by him on a fairly simple pass in with a soft screen. Kevin Love has to slide over to stop a totally free bucket. J.R. leave Jonas Valanciunas free for the put-back. Notice that both LeBron and Jae Crowder (11 points, 4-6 shooting) are in the area. Essentially four guys are stopping two players, and they can’t even do that right. If DeRozan hadn’t gone for the layup, he had both a strong side and weak side shooter open.
4. In the next example Dwyane Wade (4 points, 2-8 shooting), gets beat off the dribble and Kyle Korver (6 points, 2-6) helps him out. Only Wade doesn’t care and just lets Korver’s assignment, Pascal Siakam, get the put-back.
6. The Cavs are getting beat on penetration and not even helping each other out. They are ending up in no-mans land. They mine as well conserve their energy and just let opponents score. At least when they are beat down they court, they aren’t putting extra miles on their bodies.
7. Fred Van Vleet torched Cleveland for 22 points, four assists, and four rebounds. He went six of eight from deep. He did it all in the flow of the game too, which is why he didn’t get a shout out earlier. He just played and took what was given to him.
8. The Cavs only had nine turnovers. The Raptors weren’t just getting easy buckets off run-outs Cleveland couldn’t stop. The Cavs were creating the free buckets in half-court situations, and by just not getting down the floor.

Hypes

1. No one got injured tonight.
2. LeBron James actually yelled at the coaches and showed a little bit of anger towards teammates for not trying.
3. Isaiah Thomas struggled having four of his first 11 shots blocked and none of his first 11 shots drop. He took some hits and bounced back up though, which is a good sign. He finished 2-15 and missed all six of his 3s.

There’s not much to say. The Cavs play tomorrow against the Pacers. If Lue is smart, he’d rest all the starters and just concede the game. Something is off right now and he needs to get some energy back into the team. If things continue how they are, the Cavs will lose by fifty to the Warriors on Monday.