East Conf. Semis, Game 2: Cleveland Cavaliers 128-110 Toronto Raptors - 5 Talking Points

#4 Toronto's decision-making was rank bad

Toronto Raptors huddle up

As remarked in the previous slide, Toronto failed to put any sort of feasible pressure on the ball handler. Moreover, when put under pressure by the Cavaliers, they wilted like flowers after the sunset and came up with some really inefficient plays to force the issue.

But by far their biggest shortcoming on the night was their failure to utilize Jonas Valanciunas on the offensive end. The Lithuanian primarily takes the floor for his effect as a rim runner, scorer and rebounder on offense, as he's not a particularly great defender. Whereas the Raptors looked to set him up in the paint or down at the low post on a number of occasions in Game 1 (with good results at that), they refused to do the same in this game.

In fact, Valanciunas gave up on demanding the ball after a while. Also, on a number of occasions when he went to the perimeter to set a pick, he failed to follow it up with a roll of substance, despite often having the opportunity to make a cut through an open lane. It did not help that the Raptors weren't looking for him, of course.

Dwane Casey's men have trained for around a year to run their offense based mainly on in-game improvisations, but none of their players exuded an unpredictable air. Their offensive possessions were mostly stale and lacked imagination, and it is tough to find a single play in the game when they moved the ball around in a memorable fashion before a bucket.

Backup point guard Delon Wright had several opportunities to take open jump shots after being left open by the Cavaliers at the 3-point line. Instead, he gave the advantage right back to his opponents by electing not to shoot every single time. The match would have been an infuriating watch for neutral fans in a large part because of this.