Raptors can’t beat Cavs

TORONTO It was the moment the Toronto Raptors had been building toward since team president Masai Ujiri uttered the words “culture reset” nearly a year ago.

But missed shot after missed shot Tuesday, the Raptors saw their hopes of striking the first blow in their second-round playoff series against old foe Cleveland disappear.

The Raptors missed 18 shots over the final 10 minutes of regulation before losing 113-112 to the Cavaliers in overtime, and in the moments after the heartbreaker, the Raptors talked about an opportunity they’d let slip away.

“For sure, without a doubt,” DeMar DeRozan said. “We had many opportunities to close this game out. We couldn’t buy a bucket, we got some great looks, we had a lot of shots point blank at the rim that were in and out, Freddy (VanVleet) got two great looks, we can name countless things.

“But it should never have come down to pin on none of those. It happens, now we understand what we’ve got to do next game.”

Cleveland star LeBron James had 26 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds to give the Cavaliers a 1-0 series lead going into Thursday’s Game 2 in Toronto. J.R. Smith added 20 points, while Kyle Korver had 19.

Jonas Valanciunas had 21 points and 21 rebounds, while DeRozan had 22 points, Kyle Lowry finished with 18 points and 10 assists, and Pascal Siakam had 11 points.

Turnovers also proved costly for the Raptors — they coughed up 21 points on 14 giveaways, nine in the first half alone.

The Raptors had been ousted by Cleveland in the past two post-seasons, including the humiliating four-game sweep in last year’s second round that prompted the reset. They went on to win a franchise-record 59 games and clinch No. 1 in the East, earning the allimportant homecourt advantage for the postseason.

In a game that saw the Cavaliers never lead in regulation, the Raptors gave up that advantage.

“We’re better,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “We are better than some of the situations we put ourselves in. I can do a better job. I didn’t like some of the possessions we had down the stretch even though we got open looks. We all can be better. Some of the turnovers we had, we had a rebound our same two guys fought over it and lost it.

“I don’t know if it was nerves or yips or what, just things that just shot ourselves in the foot.”

The Raptors led from the opening tipoff, racing out to an early 14-point advantage and then tried to hold on for dear life.