Game Night Observations: No Juice, Resting Time and Nae'Qwan Tomlin's Rise
Cleveland drops to 12-7 on the season after its third loss to Toronto on the year.
TORONTO — The Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t have enough to defeat the Toronto Raptors on Monday night.
They didn’t have enough available players. They didn’t have enough shotmaking. And they certainly didn’t have enough juice, according to head coach Kenny Atkinson.
“I don’t think Evan [Mobley] had the juice tonight,” Atkinson said. “I mean, I don’t think a lot — I don’t think Don [Mitchell] had great [juice]. Larry [Nance Jr.]. Like, we’ve been milking these guys, and I knew coming into this game it was gonna be a tough one.”
For the Cavs, not having the juice isn’t some inexcusable sin1. It was the second night of a back-to-back against a good Raptors team. Nights like this one happen throughout the course of an 82-game season. Last time the Cavs played the Raptors, it was a home game that was the night after the team played in Miami and was the fifth game in seven nights for the Cavs. They didn’t have the juice on that night, either.
On a night like this, there isn’t really much to take away from the result. There are things, however, to take away from how the game played out.
