The Cavaliers took a commanding 2-0 at home to open up their first round series against the Toronto Raptors, but after a 22-point loss in Game 3 and an embarrassing effort in Game 4, their season now comes down to the final three games of this series.

Shooting Woes

Sunday’s game against Toronto is one of the worst shooting games I’ve ever watched. The Cavs shot 37% from the field and 25% from three, and Toronto shot an even worse 32% from the field and 13% from three. This was a game that the Cavaliers should’ve been able to run away with, but none of their overwhelming offensive talent could get anything going.

Donovan Mitchell had what is probably the worst playoff performance of his entire career, as he shot 6-for-24 from the field. Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley had 11 points combined and Sam Merrill was the only role player that could get a three to fall. This team is far too talented to lose a game where the other team only hits a quarter of their shots, but the same struggles with playoff physicality that have haunted them for the past few years appear to still be a major problem.

Sloppy Turnovers

Another key factor in these losses has been the insane volume of turnovers. The Cavs had 20 turnovers in Game 3 and 17 in Game 4. The main culprit here has unfortunately been James Harden. He had eight turnovers to just four assists in game three, and seven more turnovers in game four. This was what many feared would happen after the Darius Garland trade. Harden was brought here to help the team get over the hump in the playoffs, but in just four games we’ve already had a pair of brutal performances that have contributed to losses.

Donovan Mitchell had his share of bad turnovers in game four as well. Early in the game he threw a no-look pass that hit the corner of the backboard, and with 47 seconds left up by one, he had an eight second violation to give Toronto the ball back. These two guards just simply can’t play as badly as they did in Toronto if they want to have any chance of winning this series.

Home Court Advantage

Before this series started, I picked the Cavaliers to win in six games, and I still feel confident in that prediction, but that does not mean these last two games on the road haven’t been incredibly concerning. A team that has championship aspirations just can not make the mistakes that this team has. Two of the final three games in this series will be in Cleveland, and the home team has won all four games so far. The team that wins game five of a 2-2 series goes on to win the series 82% of the time, so it’s safe to say that Game 5 on Wednesday is a must win for this Cavaliers squad.

If they are going to get back on track, the sloppy turnovers have to stop. The Raptors offense has struggled mightily in the half court throughout this series, but the points off turnovers have given them easy opportunities over the past two games. If James Harden can keep things clean offensively, and if Donovan Mitchell can get back to scoring efficiently, then the Cavs should win the next two games easily. If they can’t clean it up and Toronto is able to pull off the upset, then it’s going to be a very long offseason. All of the pressure will be on the Cavaliers in the rest of this series, and it might just be their last chance to figure out these playoff woes.