CLEVELAND — In the wake of every Raptors playoff game, time, wifi and sanity willing, The Athletic’s Eric Koreen will present his stray thoughts. Here are his notes after the Raptors’ 125-103 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of their series.



The Raptors were not exactly swinging it around to the weak side time after time, but they were getting decent looks with a starting lineup that had played just six previous minutes together. At some point, though, you’ve got to hit shots. Serge Ibaka missed his first four shots, and missed shots allow Cleveland to take it back the other way, as happened here with Kyrie Irving.



It was nice to see Jonas Valanciunas come in off of the bench and make an immediate impact, again. On the second offensive possession with him on the floor, he fought for the offensive rebound, forcing the ball to go out of bounds. He finished with 23 points, with the Raptors finding him in simple spots, and Valanciunas looking worlds more comfortable than he did in Game 1.



On the other hand, you cannot waste the defence P.J. Tucker supplied on Kyrie Irving here. Valanciunas was on Channing Frye — a problematic matchup — and was turned around just enough to allow Frye to get his shot off. He took one false step, and it cost the Raptors. In his defence, that is a defensive assignment he will struggle with. The next time Frye hit a 3-pointer, Valanciunas was nowhere close to...