It was close early, but you could almost see it right away — this would not be the Cavaliers’ night.
Lots of first-quarter turnovers, not enough energy for a road playoff game, not enough production from their stars. The Raptors deserve credit for that. This is how they play.
So, yes, the Raptors stepped up and took Game 3 from the Cavs by a 126-104 count Thursday in Toronto.
Not ideal for the Cavs, who kept it close much of the way and could’ve taken a 3-0 series lead. In the NBA, 3-0 is insurmountable.
But plenty of teams have come back from 0-2 deficits. And the Raptors took the first step.
The game was tied at halftime. The Cavs trailed by just two at the end of the third. It was easy to think, “They’re not playing great, but they’re still in it.”
Toronto put that to an end in the final eight or so minutes. Eventually, not playing great catches up with you, and that’s what happened here.
The Raptors put together a flurry of buckets and stops in a matter of moments. The Cavs just looked helpless, and at the worst possible time.
On top of that, they did not get great nights from their usual suspects. Donovan Mitchell struggled. James Harden struggled. Evan Mobley was just OK.
Nobody was terrible. But nobody was great. You generally need at least one great somebody on the road, sometimes two.
Let’s be honest, on this night, the Cavs had zero.
On the other side, Scottie Barnes was fantastic. Attacking. Talking. Backing it up all the way — and finishing with 33 points on 11-of-17 shooting. He looked first-team All-NBA. Cleveland can’t allow that to happen again, or the results will be the same.
RJ Barrett also scored 33. Yeah, cannot happen, either.
Meanwhile, Mitchell scored 15 (7-of-16 from the field). Harden went 5-of-13 for 18 points. Again, not terrible. Just not what you’re looking for when you’re trying to put a series away. They seemed a little… off.
Mostly, the Raptors completely dictated the pace, forcing the Cavs to play their style. They like to make games ugly. They liked to make you FEEL them on every possession.
It eventually buried the Cavs — who committed a whopping 23 turnovers.
Former Ohio State standout Jamison Battle, who only plays sometimes, absolutely buried the Cavs late in the second half, making all four of his three-pointers. The kid didn’t miss a shot, scoring 14 points in 16 minutes.
Overall, the Raptors shot a sizzling 61 percent on threes. This is a team that finished in the 20s on three-point percentage in the regular season. Cleveland, however, went 14-of-45 on threes. Too much settling, not enough good looks.
Max Strus did all he could to save the Cavs, playing with energy and scoring 15 points. Jaylon Tyson had his best game of the series with 13 points. Mobley also scored 15. None of it was nearly enough.
Game 4 is Sunday, back in Toronto, at 1 p.m. Hopefully, the Cavs got whatever this was out of their system. They still lead the series, 2-1.
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The rotation right now is pretty deep, which I don’t usually have a problem with.
But there is some redundancy to what some of our guys do. I don’t feel Sam Merril’s shot is ever hot enough for long enough, and everything outside of that shot that he does is somewhat average.
Merril and Stus is redundant. If I had to pick one I’d go with Strus. However, he needs to be out there long enough to catch some rhythm,. I don’t think Merril should be playing this series.
Tyson should be getting Merril’s minutes. No way a guy as effective as Tyson is getting less minutes than Merrill. That’s part of the problem so far this series. Tyson is coming back from some stuff, and needs to catch his rhythm back, and will be key to the series for rebounds, penetration, defense, and ball handling. Merril does none of that, he just shoots, and fall on the ground. Occasionally pulls a charge, but it’s not worth waiting for that maybe happening while the other team takes advantage. Not only will we get more Tyson, but he’ll play better, after getting more than 16 minutes. He’s a playoff guy, and he should be one of our backup ball handlers. I’d rather see him creat for Mitchel than Mitchel trying to create and turning over forcing bad shots.
Thomas Bryant should also be in the game so we’re not getting bullied by Murray Boyles. He’s the answer there, and coaching staff should be using all 6 of his fouls there if necessary. Cavs need to wake up that Evan Mobley is not a rebounder. We need more Tyson and Bryant in the game.
Coaching staff needs to recognize who our fiercest ballers are. This is the playoffs. Its not Sam Merril And Dean Wade. We have guys who want this challenge.
Guards/Forwards roation should be: Harden, Mitchell, Schroeder, Tyson, Strus, Ellis. Adding more guys affects our rhythm too much. These are our toughest guys, and on any given night they can all hit threes. Don’t need Merril in there.
The guys who should stay ready. Don’t need to be in regular rotation, but need to stay ready to step in and change the game. Specialty players and Dean Wade: Wade, Merril, Tomlin, Porter Jr, Proctor, Nance. When called upon.
Kudos to Atkinson for trying it the regular season way until we lost. Now its time to face the reality of the guys on our roster, and use our basketball tools to fix problems and win games. We have a lot of talent to use in many spots. Can no longer afford to just give guys minutes because they’ve been playing, Every play counts too much.