The Cleveland Cavaliers lost against the Toronto Raptors on Thursday night. This is the Cavs second straight loss and they’re learning valuable lessons.
The Cleveland Cavaliers faced the DeMar Derozan-less Toronto Raptors on Thursday night in a preseason game that was nationally televised on TNT. Outside of a brief run early in the game, the Cavs didn’t do much to make it tough for the Raptors.
This game was important for the Cavs for a couple of reasons. First, the team was playing without LeBron James. Although James is the proverbial head of the snake, it’s imperative that the team finds a way to win without him.
Second, this is the first action of the preseason for starting center Tristan Thompson. Thompson is one of the premier offensive rebounders in the league and is as versatile as they come as a defender as well. Without Thompson, who had an offensive rating of 130 in the regular season last year, the Cavs have still been able to put up points.
Thompson’s absence has been felt on the defensive end as his energy and intelligence were missed. Chris Andersen and Cory Jefferson have made plays at center, however, the Cavs were recently abused by both Joel Embiid and Dwight Howard without Thompson.
Lastly, the Cavs still have a battle for the last two roster spots. While Toney Douglas and DeAndre Liggins have a leg up in the competition, guys like Jefferson and Jonathan Holmes have a reasonable chance to get one of those roster spots as well.
The 23-year-old Holmes is a stretch-four that the Cavaliers can develop with their exclusive NBA Development League affiliate, the Canton Charge. Jefferson has been active and played relatively well though he’s able to be pushed around in the frontcourt with his thin frame. He’s more likely to play at power forward than center but still would be valuable depth for the Cavs frontcourt group.
With that said, the Cleveland Cavaliers saw a couple of good things from their starters.
In the first quarter, Thompson was still strong on the boards as he showed with a putback dunk in front of Jonas Valanciunas in the first quarter.
Kyrie Irving racked up five assists in the first period and found Thompson, Iman Shumpert and Kevin Love in great scoring position.
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Shumpert’s shooting form looks much improved and he knocked down 2-of-3 shots from three-point range. He seems like a more intelligent player this year and made great decisions as he moved the ball around. Love wasn’t just aggressive from everywhere on the court, he was efficient. He knocked down 3-for-6 shots shots from three-point range and went 6-for-7 from the free-throw line.
The Cavs finished the first period up 31-29.
In the second quarter, the game was rough. Thompson couldn’t stop Valanciunas from scoring despite playing defense as well as he could. Valanciunas finished 5-for-5 from the field because Thompson was just too small.
Irving, who wasn’t having his best scoring night, tried a number of circus shots that clanged off of the rim. He also had a few bad possessions as he lost his handle on the ball trying to dribble through traffic.
Channing Frye limped off of the court with an ankle injury and didn’t return. However, he appears to be fine.
I'm gonna be good. Just stepped on a foot. That's what I get for running so fast down the lane. (Shoulda been by the 3pt line)
— Channing Frye (@channingfrye) October 14, 2016
In addition, neither Irving nor Douglas could slow down Kyle Lowry. Lowry is one of the premier point guards in the league, yet no point guard should be scoring 25 points in the first half against the Cavs.
Irving was caught on screen after screen while Douglas showed no ability to stick with Lowry either. Cory Joseph also got rolling as he was guarded by Jordan McRae. McRae, who played another game with his head in the clouds, defended poorly and was a minus-24 on the court.
By halftime, the Raptors led 69-50.
In the second half, the Cleveland Cavaliers had a much better showing. The Cavs played Kay Felder at backup point guard. However, the rookie sensation couldn’t get away from the Raptors defenders. Though he missed a couple of shots he could have made, it was obvious that his height will present him with an uphill battle to climb for his whole career.
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Felder finished 1-for-7 from the field and has been 9-for-30 (30.0 percent) from the field after a strong showing in the preseason opener. He didn’t have a strong defensive presence either.
John Holland, who missed the Cavs first three preseason games with a back injury, saw his first preseason action. While showing his natural scoring instinct, Holland also looked lost on the defensive end and hurt the team as he consistently lost him man in rotations.
The Cavs also tried a number of four guard lineups in the second half that would feature Liggins as the nominal power forward. With a guard-heavy roster, it makes sense for the Cavaliers to experiment with those types of lineups.
For his part, Liggins was comfortable in the role and took the opportunity to be the best point guard outside of Irving for the night. Even as lineups changed, Liggins ended up with five assists while being the primary ball handler for the team in the second half.
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The Cavs still lost big, but the Toronto Raptors only outscored the Cavs by six points in the second half. The team lost 119-94.
Love led the team in scoring with 19 points and Irving led the team in assists with 8. Thompson looked strong in his return but is still undersized and may always be at a physical disadvantage against bigger centers.
McRae and Felder struggled for a second straight game and Liggins was sneakily the best player off of the bench for the second straight game. Those are the storylines that stick out most.
It wasn’t the best showing for the Cleveland Cavaliers by any means but there were still positives to draw from the process. Outside of one particularly bad second quarter, the Cavs kept it close even without James or J.R. Smith on the court. That’s good news for the team that beat the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference Finals on their way to winning their first NBA championship.
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What did you think of the Cleveland Cavaliers performance against the Toronto Raptors? Let us know in the comments section or tweet @KJG_NBA.