Cavaliers: 3 takeaways from Thursday’s 115-109 loss to Raptors

Takeaway #2: Turnovers continue to hinder the Cavs

This really shouldn’t be a surprise at all, but yes, turnovers continue to really hinder the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Much like the Chicago Bulls were able to do to the Cavs on Saturday, the Raptors were able to force the Cavs into a ton of turnovers. In this game, Toronto was able to force 23 turnovers which they were able to cash in for 25 points, according to NBA.com.

Again this shouldn’t be a surprise at all. When you have two players in the backcourt that are playing the majority of those minutes in Garland/Sexton who are 20 and 21, you’re going to see those kinds of growing pains, and youth often leads to inconsistency with ball security.

Even more so, the Cavs’ three players in the lineup to close the game in Garland, Sexton and Porter are so young and committed 13 of the Cavs’ 21 turnovers. Sexton had four and Porter had entirely too many with seven on Thursday, including a back-breaker in which Toronto’s Norman Powell stole a pass way out top and pretty much put the game on ice with a dunk with 35.1 seconds left.

These three for Cleveland that are a big part of the Cavs’ future showed plenty of promise in this game, but as it is with rebuilding in the NBA there are a lot of growing pains and it’s just a reminder that rebuilding in the NBA takes time and usually several years.

All-in-all the Cavaliers should be really happy with this performance, though. You can expect the growing pains, but the Wine and Gold and likely head coach John Beilein have to like the way the Cavs competed with the defending champs and nearly pulled off an upset.

These again, are the kind of losses that general manager Koby Altman and the organization can take in a long rebuild.