When the Toronto Raptors stepped into the Cleveland Cavaliers’ arena on Saturday, the 3 year playoff drought ended for the country of Canada, quickly replaced by a feeling of dread as the third quarter saw the Raptors begin to get blown out on the road. The Cavs just couldn’t be stopped at home, taking game one authoritatively. So, what can the Raptors do to make sure that doesn’t happen again?
Bucket Getters Getting Buckets
Much has been said about Brandon Ingram’s performance in the first game of the series, himself noting that
“[him]shooting 9 shots is not going to win basketball games”. Indeed, Ingram took the second fewest shots of any Raptors starter save for Jakob Poeltl while taking more free throws than attempted field goals. Ingram was brought in as the 1-B to Scottie’s 1-A, with the primary responsibility of scoring points and allowing Barnes to put more emphasis on what he excels at, facilitation and defence. Friday was an example of how that dynamic went under-utilized, so making sure that Ingram can get to his spots in the midrange and gets more aggressive from the three-point line will certainly be a key to success. Cleveland runs defensive schemes to take the ball out of his hands, but, it’s the playoffs – games are going to be physical, and whether or not Toronto and Ingram can push through to make sure a scorer is scoring will be what makes all the difference tonight.
Defence and the Centre Situation
The Raptors have struggled at the 5 all year, with varying attempts to patch a starter-sized hole during Jakob Poeltl’s absence that saw rookie Collin Murray-Boyles and Sandro Mamukelashvili play a lot of minutes at centre. The culmination of that was seen over the weekend, with all three players playing heavy rotational time. Murray-Boyles had an especially good game, but making sure that the other two – especially Poeltl – remain more involved in both defence and offence will be important to put more pressure on Cleveland’s bigs defensively. As noted in the preview, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen were largely kept in check, neither of Cleveland’s big men having breakout games.
As coach Darko Rajakovic noted postgame, the Cavaliers are a deep team, meaning that the Raptors need to pick and choose who they have their best defenders on. It’s clear, however, that Scottie Barnes might indeed be better off focusing more energy on Cleveland’s backcourt. Neither Allen nor Mobley is a lauded scorer, and while it would not do to leave either with mismatched defenders (especially Allen, who with Harden, is an especially dangerous threat in the paint), it is clear that Harden and Mitchell are Cleveland’s offensive weapons, and taking any steps to neutralize them will be the only way to keep this series alive. Playing a tall-ball lineup with two of the three centres and Scottie could do a lot to keep Cleveland’s scoring guards in check.
Game Information and Details
Where to Watch
Game Time: 7:00 PM EDT
Watch On: TSN, Peacock, NBC Sports Network
Probable Starters
Toronto: Scottie Barnes, Brandon Ingram, Jakob Poeltl, RJ Barrett, Jamal Shead
Cleveland: Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, Dean Wade
Injury Report
Toronto: Immanuel Quickley (Out: Hamstring strain)
Cleveland: Thomas Bryant (Out: Calf strain)
