The Raptors’ road to the playoffs just got tougher after loss to Cavaliers

The Raptors have been through injuries and spotty play and illnesses and losing streaks, and have somehow kept their wits about them.

The test they face now may be more difficult than any other.

Once again unable to generate enough offence to keep them in the game, the Raptors suffered their third straight loss, a 104-96 decision to the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Sunday night that may prove costly in the chase to avoid the play-in round of the post-season.

Missing the shot-making and shot-creating provided by Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby and to a lesser extent Malachi Flynn, the Raptors just could not score at a pace needed to win any NBA game.

After shooting just 32.7 per cent in the first half and trailing by 13 at the break, the Raptors, for them, exploded offensively and got the deficit down to two. Then they proceeded to go the final 6:48 of the third quarter and the first 45 seconds of the fourth without a single basket, in what was a perfect microcosm of the game.

“I’ll have to take a look at that specifically, but I certainly know it felt like it was tough,” coach Nick Nurse said. “The hard part about it is the turnovers are super low, so it’s not like we’re saying, ‘Oh man, we turned it over a ton, we couldn’t get any kind of shot up.’ There wasn’t a whole lot of deep shot-clock possessions, so chances are we got some fairly good looks.”

The Raptors held Cleveland to just 14 points in the third quarter, but only closed the halftime gap by two points. Toronto shot just less than 40 per cent from the field, made just seven three-pointers on the night and looked disjointed and out of sorts from the opening tip.

The shooting struggles of Gary Trent Jr. continued as he went 2-for-8 from three-point range and finished with 19 points. Pascal Siakam and Chris Boucher led the Raptors with 24 and 21 points, respectively. Trent was better than he’d been in consecutive losses to Detroit and Orlando and looked more himself, but he needs to provide more.

“I need to play better, need to shoot the ball better, go out there and do what I do, continue what I do, play my game,” he said. “Whatever happens, happens.”

The offensive woes stemmed mainly from poor shooting, but the lack of a true point guard to get the Raptors organized offensively was glaring. Scottie Barnes was the nominal point guard and did what he could, but play-calling, finding the right shooters and getting the offence in a halfcourt flow proved elusive. Barnes finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.

The Cavaliers had five players in double figures and scored too easily in transition.

“We’d always like to let our defence generate some transition basketball, that’s for sure,” Nurse said before the game. “We’ve had some good moments of that this season; we haven’t had great moments of that lately.”

The Raptors fell three games behind Cleveland in the race for sixth place in the East and the final guaranteed playoff berth, with just 18 games left in the season. And now having lost the season series to the Cavaliers, it will take a turnaround of gigantic proportions to make up the difference.

And if the Raptors don’t get at least VanVleet back soon, it’s hard to see how they can generate enough offence to steal many games.

“It was hard to get a whole lot going from the perimeter,” Nurse said. “It’s tough to kind of lose 33-18 at the three-point line.”

Sunday was the fifth straight game VanVleet has missed with a sore knee that first came up when he was hit in the first half of a game in New Orleans before the all-star break. Anunoby hasn’t played since Feb. 16 in Minnesota, when a small fracture in his right ring finger became too difficult and painful to deal with. Flynn, who filled in admirably for VanVleet in Toronto’s last three games, tweaked his hamstring during a loss to Orlando on Friday night.

There is no timeline on either Anunoby or Flynn, but Nurse said before the game that VanVleet should play some time on the road trip that continues Wednesday in San Antonio.

“I do believe he’s going to be back shortly,” the coach said. “We do have an incredible two-day break here coming up. I’m really hoping these extra couple days will get him ready to go.”