TORONTO -- At least Darius Garland didn’t leave Canada with a hideous eye injury this time.
That’s about all that went well for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night.
Playing the second game of a back-to-back, against a reloaded team, the short-handed Cavs got bullied by the Toronto Raptors once again, 100-88.
It’s the second time Cleveland has lost to this potential Eastern Conference playoff roadblock this season. The Cavs are now just 5-7 away from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, heading back to the states following another unsuccessful road trip.
“The Raptors are a very good basketball team,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “They’ve obviously had a ton of injuries and been missing key guys. I think that is why their record is what it is. But they’re a very good basketball team. I think we’re a very good basketball team. Would be great to match when we’re all healthy and see what happens.”
While it’s only November, this second loss to Toronto could loom large late in the season if the two teams are expectedly battling for playoff positioning.
The first loss came in the season opener. That night, Garland left just 13 minutes into the matchup following an accidental collision with Raptors guard Gary Trent Jr. that left Garland bleeding on the Scotiabank Arena floor and sidelined the young point guard for two weeks because of significant swelling around his eye.
There’s still a hint of droopiness -- lingering evidence from the first battle.
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The only reason Garland exited this one before the final buzzer: The game got out of hand. Bickerstaff raised the white flag and pulled many of his regulars midway through the fourth quarter.
The Raptors, who got some positive news on the injury front ahead of tipoff, gained control early. They won every quarter of significance (the fourth became meaningless pretty quickly). They were up by a game-high 20 points in the second half. Were ahead by double digits for the entire fourth quarter. Led for 41 of the 48 total minutes.
Versatile forward Pascal Siakam, playing his first game since Nov. 4 because of an adductor strain, seemed to spark Toronto, which had lost two of its previous three games. Siakam scored six of the team’s first eight points. He finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in 30 minutes.
O.G. Anunoby, the sticky defender who hounded Cavaliers All-Star Donovan Mitchell all night, tallied a game-high 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Scottie Barnes, back after a two-game absence, chipped in with 11 points, five assists and four rebounds off the bench -- his first career regular-season game as a reserve.
With Cleveland missing Jarrett Allen (lower back contusion), Lamar Stevens (illness) and Kevin Love (fractured thumb), and Mitchell in a figurative stranglehold, the offense floundered.
Mitchell scored five points in the first 2:45, drilling his initial two shot attempts. But then he missed seven in a row, going scoreless in the second and third quarters.
Entering the game ranked sixth in the NBA in scoring, averaging 30.1 points, Mitchell ended his worst night as a Cavalier with just eight on 3 of 11 from the field and 1 of 5 from 3-point range. An explosive, athletic, attack-minded driver, Mitchell took just one free-throw attempt -- a result of a fourth-quarter defensive 3-second violation -- as the Raptors made a concerted effort to keep him out of the paint.
“I just think he had a night. That was it,” Bickerstaff said when asked about Mitchell’s pedestrian numbers. “Always give the Raptors credit. But I think there were shots that Donovan had that Donovan takes and makes typically. I think it was just one of those nights.”
Garland and second-year big man Evan Mobley tried to pick up the slack -- each of them scoring 18 points.
“I think this was probably one of our worst shooting nights,” Garland said. “We were creating open looks for one another. Just didn’t fall tonight. Everyone knew our offense wasn’t doing what we normally do. Just tried to focus on the other side of the ball and tried to stop them. We don’t want to toss any games away, but they have to come see us twice at home too, so hopefully we will get them back twice.”
Caris LeVert fought off an ankle injury and returned after missing four straight games. Looking rusty and out of rhythm, LeVert contributed just eight points, missing seven of his nine shot attempts. He also had three assists against a pair of turnovers.
Defensive-minded swingman Isaac Okoro made a spot start in place of Allen -- a move that shifted Mobley to center and forced Bickerstaff to use his 11th different starting lineup over the first 21 games.
In his fourth start this season -- and first since Nov. 4 when he was made a full-time reserve because of his continued offensive shortcomings -- Okoro tallied two points on a putrid 1 of 11 shooting and 0 of 5 from beyond the arc.
Okoro was not alone in his struggles. The feisty, swarming Raptors held the Cavs to 37.8% shooting and 18.4% from deep. They were unable to capitalize on the open looks provided as a result of the extra attention focused on Cleveland’s All-Star backcourt.
“We talked about it pregame - they force you to take those shots and make them,” Bickerstaff said. “I thought our guys did a great job of sticking to the game plan, taking care of the basketball and creating open shots. They just didn’t go. It comes down to make or miss. Shots didn’t fall for us tonight.”
The last time the Cavs showed up in Toronto, they left with plenty of uncertainty surrounding their bright young point guard, wondering if their lofty expectations had taken a hit.
The only thing damaged this time was probably their pride -- and the rims from the many bricks.
Up next
The Cavs will return home for two straight games, starting Wednesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
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