The Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors are headed to Game 7 this Sunday to determine the winner of this series, after the Cavaliers fell to the Raptors 112-110 in Game 6 on Friday night.

In many ways, it was a similar story for the Cavaliers in this loss as it has been all series: Cleveland turned the ball over, the Cavs didn’t have as much force as their opposition, and the Raptors continued to knock down their three-point shots.

Here’s what Kenny Atkinson had to say after the loss.

The Cavaliers turned the ball over 18 times, and Toronto scored a total of 25 points off those miscues.

The most consequential turnover came with 10 seconds left in the game when Dennis Schroder was trying to get the ball to score the half-court line by passing it to Evan Mobley, who couldn’t handle it, and the ball ended up out of bounds. Seconds later, RJ Barrett knocked down the go-ahead three.

Cleveland did have a timeout to use, but Atkinson opted to let the game play on.

“I thought, with Dennis' speed, we run that all the time, get it over half court, they're going to foul. He made it an advance pass, kid made a heck of a play on the ball,” explained Cleveland’s head coach. 

“We got our fastest guy with the ball, a great free-throw shooter going over half-court. To me, kid makes a heck of a play. He got it got it to Evan, you know, kid comes in. I was assuming they're trying to foul, right? You know, so, you know, we can look at that on tape.”

The Cavaliers decided to use their challenge in the first quarter on a play in which Jaylon Tyson was eventually called for an offensive foul, and Cleveland lost the possession. 

Just like that, the Cavaliers lost their ability to challenge anything the rest of the game, which they probably would’ve liked to do on a few calls towards the end of the game.

Atkinson said the team’s philosophy when it comes to challenges is “points are equal,” no matter what point in the game.

“Definitely, we've had this kind of discussion with a lot of people, points matter everywhere in the game,” Atkinson said. “What I don't like is holding the challenge and then never using it when you could have gotten two points in the first half. So, we're aggressive with it. It's our philosophy. I know everybody's different with it.”

As disappointing as Game 6’s loss was, Atkinson already has his focus set on Game 7 this Sunday.

"I mean obviously they they like they came out with a lot of force.; a ton of force. Hit us pretty hard, but then we showed great resiliency,” said Cleveland’s coach. 

“This is typical NBA playoff basketball to four and five seed going at it. Um, but like I said in the beginning, we've got the home court advantage. That's why you work for it all year. Um, got to go and get game seven.”

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