Morning Coffee - Jan. 10, 2025
Raptors show heart in loss to Cavs | Boucher was balling
Quick Reaction: Raptors 126, Cavaliers 132 - Raptors Republic
C. Boucher - A+
27 MIN, 23 PTS, 12 REB, 0 AST, 1 STL, 9-14 FG, 5-8 3FG, 1 BLK, 0 TO, 10 +/-
Boucher’s hot garbage time minutes and Bruce Brown’s rest day earned him an opportunity to enter back into the rotation tonight. He started off with a corner there which gave the Raptors a two-point lead and caused a Kenny Atkinson timeout. Boucher ended the quarter with 11 points on 4/4 shooting and a buzzer-beating block on Georges Niang. His energy was great tonight as he was crashing the offensive glass early, winning the Raptors two extra possessions. He had a point to prove tonight and made it clear that he should be a member of the rotation. He kept the hot hand going in the second half with a corner three and a dunk off a nice cut and feed by Jamal Shead which led to yet another Kenny Atkinson timeout after Toronto captured a double-digit lead midway through the third quarter. Boucher was so amazing tonight that he was given closing time minutes.
5 Things that Shocked Me as the Toronto Raptors played the Cleveland Cavaliers - Raptors HQ
Chris Boucher had himself a GAME
The Canadian Raptor has been in and out of the rotation this season and last. Which is somewhat surprising given he has the ability to make the most of the minutes he does get. He went on a three point scoring tear tonight, along with achieving a double double. In the end, Boucher ended the game with 23 points, 13 rebounds.
The 2025 Raptors are capable of a trap game
When the Cavaliers’ head coach speculated on the idea that this could be a trap game in his pre-game availability, I said “no way.” I was truly convinced this team couldn’t even threat a trap game against the best offence in the league, even missing Donovan Mitchell. Even on the 2nd night of a back to back. Still, the Raptors proved me wrong, I’ll admit it.
A “trap game” is when a team with a lower record (the Raptors, here) comes into a game against a higher ranked team (Cleveland) and wins the game despite the odds. This can happen for a variety of reasons, like when teams rest players against lottery teams (the Cavs pulled Mitchell tonight), or when a player has a big night (Boucher). It’s not overly shocking given both teams are on the 2nd night of a back to back.
Still, I was surprised when the Raptors led for most of the game.
Improved Raptors fall just short after putting up 'good fight' vs. red-hot Cavs - Sportsnet
The Raptors shot 59.6 per cent from the floor, 45.2 per cent from three and made just 13 turnovers. It’s hard to lose games like that.
But the Raptors were playing the Cavs, who extended their winning streak to 12 games and improved their NBA-leading record to 33-4, keeping them on pace to challenge the Golden State Warriors' all-time regular-season win record of 73.
The Cavs were coming off a trying and emotional win over the Oklahoma City Thunder the night before in a marquee match-up of the two best teams in the league to this point. They were open about the possibility of coming up flat against a Raptors team that has now lost four straight and 15 of its past 16 on the way to an 8-30 mark on the year.
“This is going to be a challenge for all of us,” Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson said before the game. “I think, you know, it's your kind of perfect trap game after a big win.”
But the Cavs escaped the trap, to the extent they were ever really in it. They survived Raptors reserves Boucher and rookie Jamal Shead combining for 38 points on 15-of-21 shooting, including 8-of-11 from three. They shrugged off a near triple-double from Barnes, who put together one his most complete games of the season, finishing with 24 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and three steals.
They got by without Donovan Mitchell, who was resting, because Garland went off for 40 points on 14-of-22 shooting and added nine assists. Also, the Cavs' big-man tandem, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, combined for 39 points on 15-of-20 shooting, while grabbing 26 rebounds, dishing nine assists and dominating the offensive board, 16-9. The edge on the offensive glass, the Cavs' edge in free throws (20-of-25, compared to 6-of-13 for the Raptors) and Cleveland’s slight edge in three-point shooting (14-of-31 for Toronto, compared with 18-of-45 for Cleveland) were the margins that added up to the difference in the game.
But for the Raptors, it was at least some tangible sign of progress after weeks of regression.
“I wouldn’t say we’re satisfied, but we know we put up a good fight,” said Barnes, who broke even in his metaphorical match-up with Mobley, who went third overall, one spot ahead of Barnes in the 2021 draft and his chief competition for the rookie-of-the-year award that the Raptors won.
“We worked hard all game. We tried to make everything hard, every shot. We know they got a lot of shooters, so we tried to contest every shot. They have two seven-footers, (so) as best as possible, keep them off the glass. We just tried to make them work for everything and we felt we did that for most of the game.”
The Cavs incredible offense allows them to win games they deserve to lose - Fear the Sword
To say the Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t have a good showing against the Toronto Raptors would be an understatement. The Cavs played one of their worst defensive games of the season a day after their emotional win over the Oklahoma City Thunder the night before. If it wasn’t for a 40-point performance from Darius Garland, they would’ve lost this one. And honestly, that would’ve made more sense than what’s been happening lately.
“I thought tonight was going to be that game,” said Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson postgame when asked whether he thought this was going to be a letdown game. “I was already preparing my speech to you guys. ‘Well we had a stinker, you knew it was going to happen and we did it.’ And I’m going to say we didn’t handle this one well in terms of maturity.”
That showed through on the defensive end. The Raptors came into this one with the 24th-ranked offense due to their inability to create threes and protect the ball. They’re a team with few on-ball creators and even fewer complimentary pieces to play off-ball, but you wouldn’t have known that if you just watched them play against Cleveland. The Raptors scored their fifth most points (126) and finished with their best field-goal percentage (59.6%) in a game this season.
“We’re lucky as heck to get this win,” Atkinson said. “That’s why it’s so hard to go 33-4 because with a normal team, you have a bunch of these games.”
That’s the thing, the Cavs aren’t a normal team. Normal teams don’t post 130+ points seemingly every night while winning nearly 90% of their games.
“I don’t want the guys to think that’s the only way we’re winning,” Atkinson said about the offense. “[To think] that’s the way to push this thing to a championship level.”
While that’s fair, their offensive process is so finely tuned that they can put up remarkable offensive numbers even when they’re on autopilot and missing their top scorer.
With Evan Mobley and Scottie Barnes, there’s no need to pick one over the other - The Athletic
Barnes has had to do a lot of everything. Thursday, thanks to the ineffectiveness of backup centre Kelly Olynyk, he guarded Allen for multiple possessions. A night earlier, he logged some time on the New York Knicks’ Towns.
He was the de facto point guard when Quickley was out with his elbow injury and still has many playmaking duties, if not as much responsibility to get the Raptors organized. He is counted on to guard on the perimeter sometimes and act as a back-line chaos agent when the Raptors have their defensive assignments in order in front of him, which doesn’t happen that often.
All of which is to say that if Barnes and Mobley swapped places, things would probably seem very different for both of them. In terms of foundational skills, Mobley’s defence, inside and out, is the one that is easiest to see propping up a team for years. In a non-Victor Wembanyama world, he could be a future defensive player of the year. At this stage of Barnes’ career, it is tough to imagine him becoming a top-five player in the league on either end, even if Barnes has cited winning defensive hardware as a goal.
The idealized version of Barnes has never been about that, though. The hope with Barnes was, and remains, that he can become solid at everything and the Raptors can move him around the floor to suit their needs, like a queen on a chessboard. He offered some rim protection, fast-break orchestrating and isolation scoring down the stretch against a good team Thursday. He cut into the paint and bullied the Cavaliers. He guarded Garland on the biggest possession of the game and forced him into a difficult shot. Garland hit it.
“Usually, I do a pretty good job of seeing the future,” Rajaković said. “I think Scottie, in this league, he’s going … to be averaging double-doubles. And I can see Scottie, a couple years from now … averaging (a) triple-double in this league.”
The Raptors are close in Cleveland but can’t close out the Cavaliers - Toronto Star
And the Raptors hung with Cleveland for much of Thursday, even holding an 12-point lead at one point. They pressured the Cavaliers at both ends of the floor, and a 42-point third-quarter avalanche gave them a five-point lead entering the fourth.
But on a night where both teams were on the second leg of back-to-back games, it was the Cavaliers who withstood the fatigue and eventually put the game away, 132-126, to stretch their winning streak to 12 games. Darius Garland led Cleveland with 40 points and nine assists.
“We did not get the win tonight but I’m really proud of how our guys cheered for each other, how they competed, how they gave it all they had tonight,” Rajakovic said, while lamenting the free-throw disparity (the Cavaliers went 20-for-25 while the Raptors were 6-for-13) and offensive rebounding (16-9 in favour of Cleveland).
“We did a good job of moving the ball, creating closeouts, attacking them again and creating opportunities. A lot of guys contributed tonight but, in the end, the difference was also in rebounding.”
The Raptors started aggressively, forced several key turnovers and made timely buckets in the early going. Chris Boucher came off the bench and made all his four attempts, including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, to help Toronto take a 33-27 lead after the first quarter.
It led to one of Toronto’s best offensive performances, with all starters reaching double digits in scoring and the bench contributing 44 points. Boucher finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds.
“He was everywhere on the floor for us, very active as a cutter,” Rajakovic said.
The Cavaliers (33-4) came into Thursday’s game boasting the best record in the entire league, and are now riding a 16-game win streak that includes an impressive victory over best-in-West Oklahoma City on Wednesday.
Takeaways as Raptors Show Progress in Loss to Cavaliers - Sports Illustrated
The Raptors can compete.
That’s what made their losses earlier this week so frustrating. This team isn’t as bad as it looked against the Orlando Magic and Milwaukee Bucks. Wednesday’s game, despite the lopsided score against the New York Knicks, hinted at progress, and Thursday’s effort against the Cavaliers only reinforced that impression.
Of course, Toronto won’t be competitive every night. There will inevitably be more blowouts over the next few months. But when it comes to effort and resilience, the Raptors have no excuse not to show up.
They proved that by going toe-to-toe with Cleveland on the second night of a back-to-back, even carrying a lead into the fourth quarter. The problem for Toronto was Darius Garland, who simply proved too much. He hit a dagger step-back three over Scottie Barnes in the final minute, and Toronto’s offense couldn’t keep pace down the stretch.
Did the Raptors benefit from an uncharacteristically strong night from beyond the arc? Absolutely. The three-point differential has been a glaring issue for Toronto this season.
But even without the long ball, the Raptors looked much sharper against the Cavaliers. Defensively, their rotations were crisp most of the night, the ball movement was purposeful, and the half-court offense was effective. Barnes delivered one of his most complete performances of the season, confidently knocking down jumpers over Cleveland’s towering frontcourt.
In the fourth quarter, with nobody else able to contain Garland, Toronto turned to Barnes. He rose to the challenge, blocking off a late layup attempt in a last-ditch effort to spark a comeback. Still, Garland’s 40-point explosion was too much for the Raptors to overcome.
Despite the loss, this was the kind of performance Toronto has been waiting to see from its young core. It’s less about the final score and more about the process. Competing against one of the league’s best teams — even without Donovan Mitchell — is a step in the right direction and a foundation the Raptors can build upon.
Raptors look much better, but fall short against NBA-best Cleveland Cavaliers - Toronto Sun
The biggest win of the night for the Raptors might have been actually taking a lead after 12 minutes (33-27). It was the first time Toronto had led after a quarter since December 22.
Boucher was great, building on the spark he’d provided in New York in a loss a night earlier, and Poeltl and Barnes also played well against an elite Cavaliers front court.
RJ Barrett nailed a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer to tie the game at 61.
Toronto actually hit nine three-pointers in the half, the same number as Cleveland, and did it on eight fewer attempts. That’s notable because the Cavs lead the NBA in three-point accuracy and ranked second in makes heading into the game and Toronto consistently gets clobbered in three-point differential.
Boucher had been benched for two games before going 4-for-4 in four minutes in the loss at New York. That prompted Darko Rajakovic to call on him again and Boucher, always a top professional, responded with another 4-for-4 run, in seven minutes (including three three-pointers, along with six rebounds). Boucher added another three-pointer and three more rebounds in the second quarter, leaving him one rebound short of a double-double in the first half and nine more points in the third before the magic faded.
Meanwhile, Garland, having a career year, was the best player on the floor, counterpart Immanuel Quickley struggled (but backup Raptors point guard Jamal Shead had his best game yet) and big men Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen were good too for Cleveland, which dug deep for the win.
