Recap: Cavs 144, Raptors 99 (or, Avalanche on the Hybrid League)

Welcome to the Hybrid League! It’s that time of year coinciding with the flu season where the National Basketball Association opens up the floodgates for G League players and would-be retirees to showcase their talents alongside multimillionaires, future Hall of Famers, and other Association survivors of the 2019-2021 carnage. Let’s not dwell on the somewhat dismal intersection of a public health emergency crashing in to the highly entertaining operations of our favorite league, a collision which has set off a scramble perhaps comparable in scale to the years 1975-1976 ABA-NBA merger, where whole teams simply evaporated and questions were asked about entertainment models and profit under a larger sense of American decline and foreign policy impotence. Nor should we be thrown back into the depressing days of Bubble Ball, where the league decamps to a remote location like Valley Forge to wait out the winter and discuss the future of Russell Westbrook. No! There is a silver lining to the massive number of players out in health and safety protocols — not least that the Cleveland Cavaliers are still playing basketball, in downtown Cleveland, and are able to continue their march into the upper brackets of the Eastern Conference.

The Toronto Raptors brought extra jerseys and their coaching staff to Cleveland, fielding a team that consisted of most of their regular second unit and some intriguing G-League players. It was a fun game worth watching and discussing. While the Raptors were able to momentarily startle the Cavs with speed, steals, and transition buckets in the first quarter, the Cavs shook off their Christmas fog and proceeded to dismantle the visitors with an impressive display of team basketball. The Cavs’ third quarter was an avalanche of makes, opening up a huge margin and ending the competition early. The last 15 minutes was essential Hybrid League (think summer league meets interim mid-season marketing experiment) — fodder for General Managers, league scouts, and diligent journalist types.

Quick Takeaways

Kevin Love continued his outstanding run in this game, scoring 22 points in 18 minutes as a starter at center; his focus, buy-in, and offensive efficiency remains a critical element in Cleveland’s success. Darius Garland overcame a slow start and picked apart the Raptors zone, matching Love with 22 points. Justin Anderson played 30 minutes and looks like a solid (perhaps Dahntay Jones-esque?) fit for the Cavs. Denzel Valentine was the cherry on top by going 5-9 from deep, and all of the Cavs starters finished in double figures. Isaac Okoro is out of protocols, sat on the bench, and should be back in the lineup shortly.

KLOV3 😍

22 PTS
6-9 3PT
7 REB@kevinlove | #LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/13AVwNJYT7

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) December 27, 2021

First Quarter

The Cavs came out with a Love-Wade-Markkanen front court, Darius Garland at shooting guard, and Rubio at point. Garland’s ability to move without the ball give the Cavs another wrinkle on offense that J.B. is sure to pull out of a hat throughout the season. Cleveland went on a 7-0 run, but the Raptors started to regularly dislodge turnovers in the paint, and the momentum turned, due primarily to D.J. Wilson, who had four steals in the quarter. Wilson was the sole G-Leaguer in Toronto’s starting lineup; he was a Michigan Wolverine/John Beilein student from 2014-2017, played for the Bucks for a few years and ended up in Houston (and then OKC’s G-League team) as part of the P.J. Tucker trade in March 2021. Although he was often confused about defensive assignments, he had a good showing.

Chris Boucher, the lanky Montreal-Nord center, dragged down Toronto’s shooting percentage but got to the line repeatedly and was responsible for the lion’s share of the Raptors’ early rebound advantage over Cleveland. The Raptors were everywhere on the glass, pulling down 7 offensive rebounds to Cleveland’s 0, and outrebounding the Cavs 18-9 in the quarter.  Yuta Watanabe was doing his best Cedi Osman impersonation, gliding up for speedy twos and also rebounding well, pulling down 13 boards to go with his 26 points (on 11-20 shooting) on the night .

Nick Nurse called the first timeout to get fresh bodies on the floor, but it might as well have been J.B. The notion put forward by Austin Carr that the Cavs hadn’t prepared to play this team or had no opportunity to scout them was a bit of a red herring — the Toronto starters were more or less their second unit, players the Cavs had gone up against last year.

Nurse then unveiled all of his meager cards, playing the small but crafty point guard Tremont Waters and his two former Big-10 big men (about whom more later). The Cavs were slightly disorganized whereas disorganization was working in the favor of the Raptors, who were running, scrambling, no hierarchy in place on offense, running very few half court sets. The Cavs stayed in the game via steady play from Kevin Love, who at one point was on the floor with four reserves (Pangos, Valentine, Anderson, and Kornet).

J.B. had a word with Darius after he unsuccessfully gambled for a steal at the end of the overly-wild first quarter. Speaking to his star guard with the assurance of a man who has been given a contract and thus a vision into the sunlit (post-pandemic?) uplands of 2027, J.B. probably just told him to slow down and collect himself.

Leadership. #LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/SFpCAuJFcC

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) December 27, 2021

Second Quarter

With the Cavs needing separation from this pesky Toronto team, Lauri Markkanen stepped up with several dominant minutes. The big Finn buried three dunks, establishing himself via bully ball on the frustrated Svi Mykhailiuk, and hitting a baseline mid-ranger off of a no-look pass from the telepathic Denzel Valentine.

Justin Anderson showed nice touch passes, playing with confidence and poise. As if to both emphasize his comfort with the team but also take advantage of the time on stage, at one point as Toronto was calling time out after Dean Wade crashed from the weak side to dunk the ball home, Anderson curled out to high-five courtside fans.

The Cavs were very much winning the battle of attrition as Mykhailiuk picked up his third foul and the Raptors defense started to evaporate. Kevin Pangos came in and made matters worse for the Canadian team, perceptively bypassing Kevin Love and feeding an open Kornet under the rim. Kornet notched the only Cavs block of the evening, doing a credible momentary impression of Cleveland’s “Tower City.” Pangos did exemplary work on his perimeter defensive rotations and held his assignment Tremont Waters to 0-3 in the quarter.

Given a boost by a Denzel steal and dunk in the open court, J.B.’s squad went into the break up 17, reflecting the truth of the C:tB live thread observation by West Coast Cav: “Cavs starting to look like the Cavs.”

DENZEL VALENTINE.@denzelvalentine | #LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/es5sG22F2q

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) December 27, 2021

Dean Wade, “looking like he just came out of the dryer” (h/t BW on the livethread) gave an interview about his weak side dunk and game prep.

Third Quarter

Kevin Love clearly decided to control the game as the Cavs came out for the second half. He immediately widened the wedge of victory with a soft two, a three-pointer, and five rebounds. In that easiest of visual barometers for player motivation, Love also had consistent and effective closeouts on Boucher. (Boucher, perhaps recalling advice he had received years ago at the University of Oregon, finally tried a pump fake and drive about halfway through the quarter.) Love sat down for the evening halfway through the frame, with the game well in the bag.

Darius (an obscene plus 24 in the quarter) went calmly ballistic and dropped in three triples, starting his barrage from the halfcourt logo. The Cavs went 9-16 from distance in the quarter. They also outrebounded Toronto 15-7, in part due to J.B. inserting Tacko Fall with 3:20 left in the quarter. Fall gathered three boards on a single possession, sending the crowd into ecstasy.

Fourth Quarter

Denzel Valentine looked like a better version of Jordan Clarkson out there, canning two of his three triples, making good decisions and ripping down four rebounds. R.J. Nembhard played all twelve minutes, dishing out half a dozen assists and trying to feed former Cincinnati Bearcat Trevon Scott for his first NBA points. Scott ended up going 3-6, playing most of the period, showing nice offensive finishing with the left hand and picking off a steal. Luke Kornet was less impressive, turning down the opportunity to show off his range from three. Pangos and Anderson looked like professionals and the Cavs put this game away easily, not even suffering a gouge on their plus/minus numbers.

Randoms

-Kevin Love exited halfway through the third quarter, just one rebound short of a double-double, but in his Christmas generosity it seems unlikely he begrudged that board to a teammate. Love is currently 19th all-time NBA in career double doubles, having pulled even with Chris Webber (445). Among active players, Love is trailing the surprisingly durable Chris Paul (485) and three members of the Los Angeles Lakers, namely his old UCLA running mate Russell Westbrook (465), Cuyahoga Leviathan LeBron James (515), and reptile enthusiast Dwight Howard (744).

-J.B. and the coaching staff appear determined to keep working on Tacko Fall, giving him 11 minutes of time in this game and freedom to try some inside offensive moves. He remains ponderous and turnover-prone but as J.B. showed against Boston there are merits to his play in certain matchups.

-The Raptors bench for this game included two big men of the Big 10, namely Juwan Morgan from Indiana University-Bloomington and Daniel Oturu from the University of Minnesota. Oturu went to high school in Woodbury, Minnesota, so was a local recruit for J.B. Bickerstaff’s own Golden Gophers (J.B. was a point guard in Williams Arena, a local shrine of sorts, in the 1990s). He was drafted by the Timberwolves and ended up as a third-string center for the LA Clippers last year, getting sporadic regular-season minutes alongside a quad injury and tasting four garbage-time playoff minutes against the Phoenix Suns before being traded to the Grizzlies, cut again, and then getting preseason run with the Chicago Bulls. He is more of defensive specialist than an offensive creator, but has raw potential. Like Isaac Okoro, his parents are Nigerian immigrants to the US.

-The Raptors desperately needed bodies and playmaking in this game, and have needed it since mid-December. Yet the healthy and signed veteran guard Goran Dragic, hasn’t played for the team since November 13. A CBC article provides a useful breakdown on his role and a few minor insights into the impasse; he is and has been away from the team for more than a month for “personal reasons.” He is 35 years old and on the final year of a deal paying him a Rubio-esque $19 million per year before he hits free agency next year. Keep an eye on Dragic as a trade piece.

-Speaking of trade talk: Watching the Cavs last game against Toronto was, in a sense, poor preparation for this very unique Hybrid Season (TM) game. Not only was that game extremely close down the stretch — featuring a fantastic Jarrett Allen bailout three and clutch free throws from Garland to win the game — it included a prominent role for Cavs shooting guard Collin Sexton, aka “Young Bull.”  C:tB’s Chris Francis astutely pointed out in his recap of that game that J.B. made the perilous decision to go with Sexton rather than Rubio for significant stretches in the fourth quarter, and it nearly lost Cleveland the game. Watching it for the third or fourth time, it appears that Sexton’s crunch time decision making was suspect, his ballhandling error-prone, and his inability to accept the fact that he was sitting as the minutes ticked down and the game tightened (coaching staff literally had to push him down the bench away from J.B.) was more than a little bit uncomfortable. Every time Ben Simmons is mentioned with respect to the Cavs, I personally feel a little dumber, but the Sexton Wars seem ready to return to a state of flare up after a Christmas Truce, and returning to Cavs-Raptors games gone by seem as insignificant yet useful a matchstick as any upon which to reignite the debate.

Final Thoughts

In the end, this was an avalanche of Cavs professionalism and cultural continuity overcoming the jangling yet potentially dangerous Raptors. The Cavs and the Raptors will meet again on the other side of the All Star Break, twice in that decisive month of March. Call it irrational exuberance in the avalanche aftermath, but two more wins against the Raptors this year and Cleveland will be able to sweep the season series with Toronto for the first time since 2008-2009.