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The Cleveland Cavaliers took a blow in their first game on the road against the Toronto Raptors.
Let’s go over today’s losers, because there are no winners. Except the Tyson family, who deserve an honorary shout-out.
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LOSER – Turnovers
Let’s start by setting the table. Or, like the Cavs, by spilling things all over the place and causing a mess.
Cleveland opened this game with nine turnovers in the first quarter. That’s enough to break your back in the NBA Playoffs. The Cavs somehow managed to weather the storm and stay within two possessions at the end of the quarter — but it set the stage for how poorly things would go.
Every potential run from the Cavaliers was met by these self-inflicted errors. That’s not to take anything away from the Raptors, whose length and athleticism contributed directly to those turnovers, but throwing the ball into the third row (like James Harden did in the second half) is something most NBA players can avoid.
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“I didn’t think our spacing was great,” said Kenny Atkinson after the game. “Crowding the paint on our drives… they decided they really want to pack it, and I felt like we were trying to thread the needle too much trying to pass it in there.”
Dennis Schroder played five minutes in the first half. He turned it over three times in that stint and didn’t play the rest of the game.
Harden finished with a game-high 8 turnovers. That was his first playoff game with as many turnovers since 2019, when he was with the Houston Rockets. Some of his more careless giveaways were tough to watch. Though again, Toronto deserves credit for swarming him and making life a living hell.
The Raptors forced Cleveland into 20 turnovers overall. They took those for 23 points off turnovers. That was more than enough to erase any marginal advantage the Cavs had gained on the offensive glass (16-11). The truth is, if you give up that many possessions, you lose the game more often than not.
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LOSER – The Paint
Much will be made of the Cavaliers’ three-point defense in this game. Trust me, anyone who has read FTS this season has heard plenty of…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/winners-losers-cavs-vs-raptors-031638093.html
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Publish date : 2026-04-24 03:16:00
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