RCF Recap: Cavs tame Raptors, 132-126

Smooth · Jan 10, 2025

When you don’t have one of your All-Stars, it’s good to have your other three. (Well, hopefully other three).
Donovan Mitchell sat out on the second night of a back-to-back due to rest which was likely related to a knee he banged up against the Oklahoma City Thunder. They could have used him but didn’t need him.
40 points, 9 assists, 2 rebounds and 3 steals on 63% shooting.
18 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 1 on steal on 88% shooting.
21 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal on 63% shooting.
Those are your other three All-Stars picking up the slack with Mitchell out. Jarrett Allen provided a spark when they needed it the second quarter, and Darius Garland provided them with a closer when they needed it in the fourth quarter.
It could have been all for naught as the defense, well, was far from competent. As Kenny Atkinson said after the game, “We weren’t good defensively at all.
That is putting it kindly. The Raptors put up 126 points on 59.6% shooting (a season high) for an ORTG or 131.1. This is a team that came into the game 24th in the NBA in ORTG. It might have been a game where they shot above their heads, but the Cavs didn’t do much to make them uncomfortable.
Once the Raptors got comfortable, they were the pest that didn’t want to go away. They hung a 42 spot in the third quarter and pushed the Cavs until the very end but ultimately the Cavs did enough defensively and have one of the best clutch time players in the league.
The Raptors started out the game doing something the Thunder had a lot of success doing last game: Pushing the ball ahead with the pass off misses to generate quick, easy offense. The Raptors ended the night 64th percentile in points per possession off live rebounds.
Teams have tried to take advantage of offense without having to worry about one or both bigs, and they’ve managed to have success in doing so.
On the year, the Cavs are allowing possessions off live rebounds at the 12th lowest rate but allowing success at the 17th highest rate. They’re just average in that department but if there’s one thing, they’ve struggled with on defense it’s flipping ends on live balls.
The first quarter felt like two teams who just played the night before and were on the second night of a back-to-back. While the Raptors shot significantly better, there was also a bit of a frenetic pace to start with both teams trying to find their way.
Scottie Barnes played well, two assists away from a triple-double, but it’ll never not be sweet to see him airball a three over Mobley only for Mobley to come down the next possession to swish a three over Barnes.
The Cavs got a bit perimeter shot happy which didn’t work its way-out efficiency wise (33% on 12 3PA) while the league’s 21st ranked three-point shooting team outshot them with 50% on 10 3PA in the first.

Part of that parade of three’s was bench player Chris Boucher for the Raptors. He came off the bench with 11 points (three 3s) and 6 rebounds to lead all teams in both categories to start the game. Boucher came in shooting lower than 33% from 3 on the year.
The Cavs tried their hand at trying to match the Raptors from the perimeter and it didn’t work out so well. At one point early in the second quarter they had almost double three-point attempts than they did paint + restricted area shot attempts. It’s okay when it’s working but when it’s not there’s a recognition needed to adjust.
Part of what the Cavs do so well is drive and kick and generate paint touches that lead to open perimeter touches. When they’re able to have success inside it opens everything else – kinda like the play action pass in football.
Ironically, as soon as they did that their offense took off – thank you Jarrett Allen.
After just 27 points through 15 minutes of game play, Allen brought the energy and offensive presence they were lacking.
Of the seven offensive rebounds the Cavs had in the 2Q, Allen had five of them. They had eight second chance points for the quarter to which pushed their offensive into gear.
For the next four minutes, the Cavs would put up 22 points and finish the quarter with a 147 ORTG in the 2Q. This is a team that looked dead offensively just suddenly flipped the switch.
If Allen’s offensive rebounding wasn’t enough, his finishing had some style points to it after a steal.

While the second quarter was Allen’s, Garland was just as instrumental in controlling the offense and creating consistent offense for the Cavs. He ended the quarter a team best +11 and had four assists.
Max Strus came in with two threes off the bench and added two more in the fourth quarter. It’s now back-to-back games of 4+ 3PM off the bench.
An RJ Barrett buzzer-beating three was a fitting way to end the half where the Raptors hung around and kept hitting shots. While the Raptors had lost 14 of 15 coming into the game, they went into half tied with the league leading Cavaliers.
So, about that defense? That’s what we kept thinking. When was it going to show up. Not the third quarter.
The Raptors came right out of half time with 13 points in three minutes. If the Cavs thought the Raptors would lay down, they were wrong. By this time, the Cavs hadn’t done enough to make the Raptors uncomfortable enough or out rhythm. By this point, the Raptors actually thought they had a chance.
And who could blame them? Since midway through the first quarter the Raptors held the lead for most of the game. The Raptors lead for 20+ minutes over this stretch… 20 minutes!
Yes the Cavs were on the second night of a back-to-back but so were the Raptors who lost to the Knicks just the night before on the road.
While the Raptors kept their offense going, the Cavs continued to match fire with fire. They started the quarter scoring on 9 of their first 11 possessions.
And they needed every bit of it to keep pace with the Raptors who shot 76% on 25 FGA for the quarter. Luckily, the Cavs shot 66% on 21 FGA.

While it was no Thunder versus Cavs third quarter, one team did hang 40 points and the two teams combined for 79 points.
And it may be a trend worth watching: While the Cavs are really good across all quarters the third quarter is their worst quarter (which is still 10th in net rating so don’t mean to overstate it). But it’s seemed like if there’s been a quarter where things get a bit sticky for them, it’s the third.
Digging further into that, the Cavs are 23rd in the league with defensive rating in the third quarter… 23rd! While the Cavs have slowly dipped to 10th in DRTG on the year, the third quarter has been their biggest trouble spot on the defensive side of the ball.
Not to be lost in all of this, Ty Jerome provided a spark in the third quarter with 8 points. Without another ball-handler down the stretch when they needed one, Jerome provided just enough relief where it wasn’t all on Garland tonight with Mitchell out.
And speaking of players pitching in with Mitchell out, Caris LeVert took the turn in the fourth. After getting the start for Mitchell, LeVert had a bit of an uneven game up to the 4Q (but did have 5 assists). However, he turned into 9 points in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter and helped the Cavs keep it tight.
And tight was all Garland needed to take it from there. Garland continues to be the Cavs go-to clutch engine, getting them the score they need.
Garland finished with accounting for 23 of the 34 points in the fourth quarter. He was attacking, attacking, attacking the Raptors and was getting anywhere he wanted to within the paint.
The Cavs had 10 shots within the paint + restricted area in the 4Q – Garland had 5 of them. The Cavs had 5 makes in that area, Garland had 3 of them.
In addition to his scoring, Garland was able to find Strus for two big threes when they needed it. The first got them the lead by 2, and the second got them the lead by 6.

Outside of a lame basket as time expired that didn’t matter, the Raptors scored once under 2-minutes – right at the 2:00 minute mark.
Just like the Cavs turned up their offense when they needed to, they turned up their defense when they needed to as well. While the Raptors still shot 52.6% in the 4Q, the Cavs limited them to 19 FGA and only 23 points.
Three missed shots down the stretch for the Raptors bailed out the Cavs (a bit) who went scoreless for nearly 3-minutes late in the game until they were ~~bailed out~~ saved by Garland.
Part of that was getting a bit stagnant with their offensive possessions. They slowed the game down, to burn clock, and ended up running a lot of high screen actions between LeVert and Garland on the ball. It ended with some late shot clock, not high-quality shots.
I understand the strategy of trying to get your best player isolated, who had played well, and eat clock but it also kind of gets the Cavs out of what got them there. They do well when they speed up their movement in the halfcourt not necessarily slow it down.
But when you have the trump card that Garland has been this year, none of it matters. His stepback three-pointer to put a dagger in the Raptors was a bit reminiscent of the Kyrie Irving three-pointer over Steph Curry in the Finals.
The Cavs are lucky to escape with a win with how well the Raptors shot the ball and how poorly the Cavs played for parts of this game. But, that’s what good teams do: Find a way to win even when you’re not on your “A” game.
Allen finished with a double-double (18 points, 15 rebounds) but had a double-double at halftime with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Sam Merrill in his first game back got almost double the minutes than Isaac Okoro did in his second game back. As this team gets fully healthy, the minute fluctuation fort those outside the core rotation (Jerome, Merrill, Niang, Okoro) will likely see their minutes fluctuate depending on game flow, matchups and foul trouble.
In 12 minutes, Merrill was 2nd on the team with a +12. Dean Wade was 3rd with a +12.
The Cavs were a +1 in bench points in the second half after the Raptors were a +15 in bench points in the first half.
The Cavs ended the game leading for only 11:43.
The Cavs will have a few days before they do a home and home and then head out west for a bit of a choppy road trip. And not to look too far ahead, a rematch with the Thunder on the road is due next week.
Up next: Cavs will host the Pacers at home on Sunday at 6:00PM (EST)

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