• Changing RCF's index page, please click on "Forums" to access the forums.

Game Thread | Game #34 | Raptors @ Cavs | Dec. 23, 2022

Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Its about matchups. You certainly try to get the ball to your bigs when Siakum's short ass is down there.
 
Hard to believe the worst 3-point shooting team in the NBA hit 51.4% and on the road to boot. I don't know if the Cavs were just horrible defensively or the Raptors were just insanely hot.

In three games against the Cavs the Raptors are 44-for-95 from deep, or 46.3%. Overall they are at 32.2%. I have no idea why they shoot so much better on 3's against us than the rest of the league.

Normally if they take 37 threes like tonight they would make about 13 of them (35%). Tonight they made 19, which is 18 additional points. They won by 11.

The Cavs were an embarassing 18-for-30 on free throws. On the season the Cavs are making 80% from the line, so you would expect them to make 24 out of 30. So they left 6 points at the line tonight. Combine that with the extra 18 points the Raptors got on 3's and that's a 24-point difference in an 11-point loss.

My guess is this is the first game of the season where the Raptors shot over 50% from deep.

The Cavs were also dominated on the offensive glass 11-6 and on fast break points. They also fell into the trap of coming out lethargic in the 3rd as the Raptors pushed a 16-point halftime lead to 25 in less than two minutes. JBB was so mad he pulled the entire starting lineup less than 3 minutes into the 3rd quarter. They deserved it.

I thought after losing twice in Toronto the Cavs would be motivated to get some payback but the Raptors seemed to want it a lot more. They got steals, offensive rebounds, and seemed to get every loose ball.

I agree with the announcers that we don't match up well against this team. The Raptors have excellent wings (Siakam, Anunoby, Barnes) and they dominate against Okoro, Stevens, and Cedi, outscoring them 77-34.

You would think Allen and Mobley would dominate inside but the Raptors do a great job of surrounding the ball when it goes to a big in the paint and stripping him or blocking the shot. Allen and Mobley went 10-for-13 but for some reason we didn't go to them enough; Mitchell was having a horrible shooting night but put up 16 shots.

With the Raptors missing Achiuwa and Porter we needed to force the ball inside to our bigs and try to get their wings in foul trouble. But Garland and Mitchell put up 29 shots. Garland had five turnovers.

The Cavs can beat this team if they hit their normal 80% on free throws and limit the Raptors to their usual 33% on 3's. But they need Mitchell to shoot a little better. The Raptors have his number. He's 19-for-48 in three games.
 
Mobley and Allen combining for only 13 shots in which they made 10/13 is just flat out unforgivable.
I do wonder how many of our turnovers we're from trying to force it to them. The Raptors just pinch down on everything.
 
Yeah this just reminds me of 2010 when the Charlotte Bobcats had the Cavs number in the regular season and people were worried about seeing them in the first round.

Similar team too: they mucked up the game defensively and then had Stephen Jackson and Gerald Wallace do just enough scoring to win games. They were “scrappy” and “a team nobody wants to face.”

They got obliterated in the postseason.
These Cavs aren’t remotely that good to have this attitude and hopefully they don’t think like this either. These Cavs are a first round tune up for the contenders until they can prove they won’t go full nerd and cower in fear when the top teams take them seriously from tip off of game one. Regular season wins don’t mean shit and Nickelback is the greatest rock group ever.

Better than the Beatles!
 
Yep. Series wouldn’t be close.
Ah so you just have this unearned arrogant mindset in general. Got it.

Protip: Lebron in his absolute prime aint walking through that door, and, if you wanna get in this boy's hole, you gotta pay the toll!
 
It was ridiculous what the Raptors were getting away with early. Just put the ball on the floor and throw yourself into whoever is guarding you, even if they're right in front of you and backing up. If their feet are moving the foul is on them. Elbow to the face? That's a foul on the defense for not ducking fast enough.

At halftime the Raptors led 22-6 in fast break points and 18-8 on points off turnovers. The Cavs were not ready for their speed, length, and aggressiveness on defense even though they've played them twice.

How were the Raptors 14-18 coming into this game? Siakam has missed 10 games and VanVleet 6 so maybe that was it. From what I've seen they're way better than their record. We just don't have the wings to match up with theirs and we haven't gotten our bigs enough shots.
 
Ah so you just have this unearned arrogant mindset in general. Got it.

Protip: Lebron in his absolute prime aint walking through that door, and, if you wanna get in this boy's hole, you gotta pay the toll!
Yeah and he's not needed to beat this Raptors team lmao.

Everything that could go wrong went wrong and the game was a 10 point game late in the 4th. Quit with the doomer mentality.
 
Atrocious perimeter defense tonight.

Out of Toronto's 37 three-point attempts, 21 of them were wide open. 8 of them were corner 3s.
 
These guys are our kryptonite team. They match up against us weird, combined with a Mitchell clunker. Barnes always seems to show out when he goes against Evan too . . .
 
When you have a team like the Raptors who over play everything the best way to combat that is make that second and three extra pass and catch them back door or looping inside. Dribbling against their defense plays into their hands.
 

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Video

Episode 3-13: "Backup Bash Brothers"

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Spotify

Episode 3:11: "Clipping Bucks."
Top