TORONTO — The Cavs entered Toronto on Monday night riding a streak of offensive dominance — 62 straight games hitting the 100-point mark.
That streak is over.
Depleted and juiceless Cleveland fell one point shy, mustering just 99 against the long, rangy and feisty Raptors who won their eighth game overall and beat the Cavaliers for the third time — a season series sweep if the two teams don’t meet again in the NBA Cup.
It’s just the second time in the Kenny Atkinson era — regular season or playoffs, covering 110 games — the Cavs have been held below the century mark. The first since Jan. 12, 2025 — eventual NBA finalist Indiana neutralized them that night.
Of course, Monday’s streak-snapping defeat requires some perspective.
It was the second game of a back-to-back and third in four nights. No team has played more games. This week will be the first time with three consecutive days off since the season started.
The Cavs were also without seven every-night rotation players — Darius Garland (injury management), Sam Merrill (sprained right hand), Jarrett Allen (strained right finger), De’Andre Hunter (rest), Craig Porter Jr. (left hamstring strain), Dean Wade (hyperextended knee) and Max Strus (foot surgery recovery).
That left them with 10 guys in uniform, including a trio of sporadically used two-way players — Nae’Qwan Tomlin, Luke Travers and Chris Livingston. For Livingston, who has spent most of the season in the G League, it was his first game action with the Cavaliers.
The result was largely expected when the team boarded its flight to Canada late Sunday night.
The record books don’t care. There are no yeah-buts, what-ifs or asterisks.
“I mean, they did a good job showing bodies, making it tough,” Donovan Mitchell said of the Raptors’ defensive strategy. “We weren’t able to get to the rim. Even when we tried, we missed some open looks. I’m really proud of how we fought. You take this and you learn from it, move on and don’t really hang your head on this one.”
Mitchell, named Eastern Conference Player of the Week about four hours before tipoff, was limited to 17 points — his second-lowest scoring output of the season — on an inefficient 6 of 20 from the field and 3 of 12 from 3-point range. He had just seven points through the first three quarters — an uncharacteristic no-show.
Evan Mobley, the team’s second-leading scorer, didn’t fare any better. He ended the night with 14 points and took just seven shots, only one more than Travers and the sixth-most of anyone on the roster.
This time, it wasn’t a case of Mobley’s teammates ignoring him. He didn’t play with force. He couldn’t consistently beat defenders off the dribble. Was often planless in the crowded paint. Repeatedly forced out of his comfort zone.
It’s just the third time finishing with single digit shot attempts in the first 18 games.
“I don’t think Evan had the juice tonight,” Atkinson admitted. “Just some nights are like that. We’ve been milking these guys. I knew coming into this game it was gonna be a tough one. Don, you could argue the same thing. He didn’t have his normal energy, normal juice, normal legs. It happens.
“But my coach in college used to say, ‘That ball comes off the rim 60% of the time, so, you’ve got to go and rebound.’ We gotta rebound it better. He’s gotta rebound it better. But they did a good job on him.”
Like Atkinson, Mitchell — who has been supportive of Mobley, even effusive in his praise — was asked about Mobley’s passivity.
“I mean, it’s tough on a night like tonight,” Mitchell explained. “I don’t want to dive deep into that because when he’s driving, there’s three or four guys there, so it’s not like there wasn’t a concerted effort by him to get there. Our games are different. I’m coming off shooting off a pick and roll, so my opportunity to shoot more shots are there. Same thing with Zo (Lonzo Ball). For Ev, he’s trying to get to his spots. He’s making the right play. It’s one of those things where tonight obviously, yeah, could he be more aggressive? For sure. But they did a good job of trying to make sure he didn’t get shots up.
“That’s the growth of trying to figure out, ‘OK, they’re taking this away, how do I still find ways?’ We’ll get better. We’re fine and he’s fine. But give Toronto credit. They had a game plan of understanding who was there, who was out, and making sure he didn’t try to affect the game.”
With Mitchell and Mobley nullified, the Cavs didn’t have nearly enough offense.
Hunter is third on the team in scoring. Allen is fourth. Merrill, fifth. And Garland ranks sixth. None of them were even in Toronto.
Second-year forward Jaylon Tyson tried to pick up the slack, tallying 15 points while Tomlin chipped in with 14. Ball went a frigid 3 of 15 from the field and 2 of 12 from beyond the arc. His season shooting numbers are alarming — 32.5% from the field and 30.4% from deep.
Add it all up and it’s the formula for one of the worst offensive showings of the Atkinson era.
Time to start a new streak.