Cavs run out of bodies and runway in loss to rolling Raptors

Well, that was a rough way to wrap a back-to-back.

The Cavaliers showed up in Toronto on Monday with only 10 available bodies, playing their third game in four nights. And yet they still managed to hang around before running out of gas in a 110-99 loss to a Raptors team that suddenly thinks it can beat anybody.

Toronto has now taken all three meetings with Cleveland this season — the first time that’s happened since 2019–20 — and Monday’s win pushed the Raptors’ streak to eight straight. 

The Cavs (12-7) were missing almost everyone you’d normally expect to see.

Darius Garland sat out for injury management. Sam Merrill and Jarrett Allen remained out with hand and finger issues. De’Andre Hunter rested. Craig Porter Jr. and Dean Wade were sidelined. Max Strus remains on the mend after foot surgery.

At one point you looked at the bench and wondered if they’d need to call up someone from the stands.

Even so, the Cavs kept landing punches in the first half. They actually led for chunks of it — before Toronto closed the second quarter on a 13-2 burst to take a three-point edge into the locker room.

The third quarter, though, was where it slipped. Toronto opened with a quick 6-2 run, Kenny Atkinson burned a timeout to slow things down, and the lead just kept growing. It hit double digits for the first time midway through the quarter and ballooned to 14 by the 1:18 mark.

Credit to the Cavs for making it interesting late. They got it down to four with 4:37 left, but the Raptors (13-5) answered with the kind of timely buckets teams on long winning streaks tend to find.

Donovan Mitchell, playing through the wear and tear of the weekend, never quite got cooking. He finished with 17 points on 6-of-20 shooting and went just 3-of-12 from deep. Evan Mobley added 14. Jaylon Tyson had one of the brighter nights with 15 points and nine rebounds. Nae’Qwan Tomlin chipped in 14 off the bench. All 10 Cavs who suited up scored.

Toronto, meanwhile, got a season-high 37 from Brandon Ingram and another across-the-board night from Scottie Barnes, who went for 18, 11 and six — and again won the Mobley matchup.

Big picture, nothing shifts for Cleveland. They were projected as one of the East’s top teams before the season, and fully healthy, they still look the part.

It’s just that someone else has joined that conversation.

The Cavs now get a few much-needed days before heading to Atlanta on Friday for their final NBA Cup group game.