Lackluster effort cost Cleveland Cavaliers a victory against Toronto Raptors

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost 126-113 to the Toronto Raptors. This was a disappointing effort after the resilient win this squad picked up in Miami Wednesday night.

"We didn't have it," Kenny Atkinson said after the game. "I think they kind of flew by us, quicker to every loose ball. They were racing by us in transition and beat us to every rebound."

This was the second night of a back-to-back. Though, the players who struggled the most tonight weren’t even active in the previous game. Evan Mobley had a poor performance, scoring just 7 points in 35 minutes.

Toronto was led by Scottie barnes, who scored 28 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished 8 assists. Immanuel Quickley chipped in with 25 points on an efficient 10-13 shooting. Overall, the Raps shot above 55% from the floor.

This game started like it might be easy for the Cavs. The offense was rolling and they jumped to an early 10-point lead. But gradually, the Raptors found their rhythm and began to turn things around. Immanuel Quickley nailed three three-pointers in the first half to help Toronto surge to a double-digit lead of its own.

Cleveland had a hard time generating quality offense. This isn’t anything new. The ball movement has looked stagnant without Darius Garland in the lineup. It doesn’t help that Lonzo Ball wasn’t available tonight either.

Donovan Mitchell led the Cavs with 31 points, doing most of his damage at the free throw line (15-17 FTs). Nae’Qwan Tomlin was the next highest scorer with 18 points. De’Andre Hunter added 16.

The Cavs' offense has become overly reliant on the three-point line. They attempted 23 threes to just 20 two-pointers in the first half, despite shooting just 30% on their deep attempts. It’s not easy to score at an efficient rate when you’re this dependent on threes. Cleveland has to find a way to apply more pressure on the rim, even though it’s hard without a few of their key players.

This game was getting out of hand before the Cavs found some unexpected momentum. Nae’Qwan Tomlin, who helped lead their win in Miami the night before, again made an impact. He pushed his way through Toronto’s defense to gobble up 7 offensive rebounds and help keep the Cavaliers alive in the third quarter.

All momentum was lost in the fourth as Toronto’s pace finally wore the Cavs out.

The Cavaliers entered tonight’s game 8-4. This is not a bad record considering all of the injuries they have dealt with. Garland has hardly played, Max Strus has yet to make his debut, and other role players have been banged up throughout the opening stretch of the season.

Still, I think we are all ready for the team to be fully healthy and hitting their stride. We’d all prefer to get these growing pains over with and back to watching primetime Cavalier basketball. At least we’re getting this rough patch out of the way in November, hopefully.