The Cleveland Cavaliers just didn\u2019t have it tonight. They lost 126-113 to the Toronto Raptors, dropping to 8-5 on the season.<\/p>\n
WINNER \u2013 Craig Porter Jr.<\/p>\n
Porter has hit his stride as of late. He was a huge contributor in Cleveland\u2019s surprise win over Miami and continued his success in the second night of a back-to-back. Porter had the Cavaliers\u2019 offense moving with intention, throwing a handful of cross-court passes that took Toronto\u2019s defense by surprise.<\/p>\n
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The Raptors are a team that you\u2019d expect to bother Porter. They\u2019re a rangy, athletic team that makes it difficult for a player like Porter to have an impact without being a perimeter scoring threat. But Porter used his handle and downhill speed to send Toronto into rotation multiple times tonight.<\/p>\n
Porter finished with 10 points, 4 assists and a steal in 22 minutes. He shot 4-6 from the floor.<\/p>\n
WINNER \u2013 Nae\u2019Qwan Tomlin<\/p>\n
Hustle can take you far in the NBA. Especially if you\u2019re a two-way player fighting to earn minutes. Tomlin has taken it upon himself to simply never stop hustling. He churns his feet and attacks the glass on every Cavalier field goal attempt. This persistence led to 5 offensive rebounds in 21 minutes. Each one energized the Cleveland crowd in a game where they didn\u2019t have much to get excited about for most of it.<\/p>\n
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Tomlin has a long road ahead of him before earning a standard contract. He has to prove he can score and defend with consistency before taking that next step. But for now, there isn\u2019t much to complain about. Tomlin has made the most of his opportunities and is showing he has a legit motor.<\/p>\n
LOSER \u2013 Larry Nance Jr.<\/p>\n
Nance\u2019s homecoming was a heartwarming story. And, he had the physical tools this team had been missing on the bench. A 6\u20199\u201d forward who can add versatility to the second unit as a mobile big. This hasn\u2019t translated to the actual games yet. Nance has looked a step slower than we expected. He was a -13 in seven minutes tonight, recording only an assist and a foul. This resulted in Thomas Bryant and Nae\u2019Qwan Tomlin playing in his place for the second half.<\/p>\n
Nance entered this game averaging 4.4 points on 34% shooting from the floor. He\u2019ll have to turn some things around to remain in the rotation.<\/p>\n
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LOSER \u2013 Perimeter Defense<\/p>\n
The Cavs have had a difficult time containing the three-point line this season. They\u2019ve found themselves on the wrong end of some three-point barrages early on. Tonight was no different. Toronto shot 9-16 from deep in the first half, erasing Cleveland\u2019s 10-point lead from the first quarter and entering the second half with a 13-point advantage.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t have to tell you how impactful the three-point line can be in today\u2019s NBA. The Cavs right now are playing with fire every time they fail to rotate and cover the perimeter. Most of this stems from poor point-of-attack defense, and it\u2019s something that they can\u2019t afford to continue.<\/p>\n
LOSER \u2013 Taking too many threes<\/p>\n
On the other end, Cleveland is probably taking too many three-pointers. They are both giving up too many and attempting more than you\u2019d like. The Cavs entered this game leading the NBA in three-point attempts, taking nearly three more per game than the next most.<\/p>\n
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There are a few reasons for this. Not having Darius Garland, one of the team\u2019s best at generating points in the paint, is one. Having the team\u2019s next best driver, Donovan Mitchell, prioritize his health by not attacking the basket as often as before is another. You can\u2019t blame Mitchell for wanting to protect his body and stay fresh for the entire season. But it\u2019s obvious how this has impacted the team in the short term. Mitchell began tonight\u2019s game 0-6 from deep and 3-4 from everywhere else.<\/p>\n
In fairness, Mitchell began to put his head down and attack the rim with authority in the second half. I guess it\u2019s hard to keep a highly competitive athlete restrained when the game is on the line \u2014 even if he wants to take it easier this regular season. Mitchell also took 17 free throws tonight, a bulk of which he expertly drew on jumpshot attempts.<\/p>\n
LOSER \u2013 Evan Mobley<\/p>\n
Sorry, Evan. We don\u2019t have to criticize Mobley often on this blog. But tonight was genuinely one of the strangest games he\u2019s ever played. His energy level was off from the start, missing defensive rotations and looking disinterested on offense. He finished with only 7 field goal attempts, the sixth most on the team, and fewer than rookie Tyrese Proctor.<\/p>\n
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Every player is allowed to have off nights. This certainly was one of them for Mobley. But the early portion of the regular season is for building habits. This type of lackluster effort isn\u2019t something we want to see from the franchise cornerstone. Fortunately, we rarely see a game like this from Mobley. Still doesn\u2019t feel good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cleveland Cavaliers just didn\u2019t have it tonight. They lost 126-113 to the Toronto Raptors, dropping to 8-5…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":377484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[181309,3128,181278,59153,39463,102499,181311,181308,380,181310,1260,62,102500,6953,44210,3126,181312,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-377483","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-athletic-team","9":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","10":"tag-craig-porter-jr","11":"tag-darius-garland","12":"tag-donovan-mitchell","13":"tag-evan-mobley","14":"tag-field-goal-attempt","15":"tag-larry-nance-jr","16":"tag-miami","17":"tag-naeqwan-tomlin","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-the-cavs","21":"tag-thomas-bryant","22":"tag-tomlin","23":"tag-toronto-raptors","24":"tag-tyrese-proctor","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115546109038646871","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}