Love just stood there on a loose ball in the first quarter, then awkwardly reached for it as a Toronto player pounced on it. Of course they ended up with a 3-pointer a couple of seconds later. I couldn't believe he just stood there and watched a loose ball bounce toward him without reacting. It looked like he thought Sexton was going to get it, but still, you don't stand there watching a loose ball.
With Clarkson gone the effective second unit consisting of Garland, Clarkson, Porter, Nance and Henson has been broken up. Now there is only one player in that group who can create his own shot and when Porter is off there's nobody who can score.
Last night the Cavs were outscored by 2 points in the first quarter, 1 point in the 3rd, and 3 points in the 4th. Unfortunately they were outscored by 14 in the second quarter, mostly when their bench was in the game. The Toronto bench, such as it was, outscored the Cavs' bench by 16 points in a 20-point loss.
But the real difference, IMO, was the 3-point shooting. The Raptors were 17-for-39; the Cavs 10-for-38 for a difference of 21 points. The Cavs lost by 20. Love was 1-for-7; Porter 1-for-6. The Cavs rank 25 of 30 in 3-point percentage. That needs to improve.
They also need to get some rim protection. Celtic commentator Tommy Heinsohn laughingly called them "the team that doesn't block shots" the other night. I think they managed four blocks last night, but what was obvious was the numerous times the Raptors made layups over Nance, Love, and Thompson. Even when these guys are in good position and time their jump well they aren't getting high enough to block or alter the shot. Only Henson consistently blocks the shot or forces the shooter to use a higher arc which results in a miss. Unfortunately, Henson has no offensive game and can't make free throws.
Larry Nance, Jr frustrates me because of his hands of stone and lack of touch on his shots. He fumbles away more passes and rebounds than anybody I can remember seeing. Does he have really small hands or something? Last night he had a path to the rim along the baseline that was closed off, forcing him to shoot a pull-up jumper from five feet. He missed the rim by a foot. On another play he got a lob and had both hands on the ball above the rim but when he tried to drop it through the hoop he somehow missed. He also has been known to bang dunk attempts off the back of the rim.
I love Nance's attitude, unselfishness, and effort but I wish he was better at catching the ball, securing the ball, and had some touch on his shots in the paint.
At least the turnovers were down. After 28 against the T-Wolves the Cavs had half that many against Toronto. Let's hope that wasn't an anomaly.
Terence Davis, averaging 6.6 ppg for the Raptors, came off the bench to score 19. Now that Clarkson is gone there is nobody on the Cavs bench who could dream of scoring 19 points in a game other than Porter.
Get some rim protection. Improve the 3-point shooting. Until those things happen this team won't beat anybody good. They're now 0-15 against teams ranked in the top 10 in The Athletics' Power Poll.
