Cavs Top 3: Lauri Markkanen continues hot second-half but it’s not enough in loss

Lauri Markkanen can’t stop the Raptors in recent Cleveland Cavaliers loss.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are spiraling a bit. Sure they’re 5-5 in their last 10 and that’s not bad, especially after the last few years of basketball, but the team is trying to stay out of the play-in tournament and that is fast becoming a problem. They’re fending off the Toronto Raptors, whom they just lost to despite Lauri Markkanen’s nice performance.

The Cavs are in the thick of it now, as are The Bulls. The three teams are separated by a game, and while the Bulls and Raptors are largely healthy, the Cavs are reeling without Jarrett Allen. Allen has proven himself to be the best all-around player on the team, strictly due to what his absence has caused.

Without him, the Cavs aren’t able to beat the teams they were once rolling through so easily. The Cavs fell to the Raptors on Thursday, 117-104, in a lackluster outing. Poor defense sealed their fate, but a few turnovers more than Toronto certainly didn’t help. The good news is the Cavs have just nine games left to play and one more loss by the Knicks or one more win by the Cavs, assures the Cavaliers at least get a play-in spot.

Though with the Brooklyn Nets getting specialty treatment by the city of New York, the last thing anyone wants to do is face off with Brooklyn in the play-in tournament.

Lauri Markkanen wasn’t enough for the Cleveland Cavaliers

Cavs Top 3

1. Kevin Love
2. Evan Mobley
3. Lauri Markkanen

Kevin Love got the start against the Raptors and played fairly well, finishing with 12 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, and two steals; all on 5-8 shooting. Lamar Stevens was almost in this spot but he had a far worse day than Love. He was ineffective defensively; which is his strength and he was far less effective with the ball in his hands than Love, so Love gets the single point of the game.

The two-pointer goes to Evan Mobley, who had 11 points and eight rebounds and also didn’t struggle scoring the ball, nor was he a liability defensively. Darius Garland, for all of his scoring abilities, does struggle to stay in front of other guards.

The three points for the game go to Lauri Markkanen, who had a team-high 20 points, five rebounds, and tied with Isaac Okoro for the team-best BPM of -3. Markkanen’s second half of the season has really shown what he can be.

Yearly Standing:

1. Darius Garland (80 points)
2. Jarrett Allen (68 points)
3. Kevin Love (62)
4. Lauri Markkanen (54 points)
5. Evan Mobley (51 points)
6. Cedi Osman ( 36 points)
7. Ricky Rubio (32 points)
8. Isaac Okoro (18 points)
9. Dean Wade (10 points)
10. Rajon Rondo (6 points)
11. Lamar Stevens (4 points)
12. Caris LeVert (4 points)
13. Brandon Goodwin (3 points)
14. Dylan Windler (1 point)