The Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t get the reputation of being playoff failures overnight. They’ve earned it through years of falling short in the biggest moments.
Although their first-round series with the Toronto Raptors isn’t over by any stretch, Game 4 showed all the telltale signs of what has plagued this team in previous postseason runs: lack of toughness, poor rebounding, the offense falling apart, and an inability to close out tight games.
Cleveland was up eight with just under five minutes to
play, but once again couldn’t seal the deal. The offense got stagnant, Donovan Mitchell couldn’t make the one play he needed to, and the defense didn’t stay in front of a Raptors team that was having a historically bad shooting day.
This all culminated in a 93-89 loss. The series now shifts back to Cleveland tied at two.
Mitchell’s lazy eight-second violation in the final minute epitomizes this era of Cavs basketball.
One basket might’ve put the game away, but they couldn’t get the ball over the timeline.
Mitchell didn’t show any urgency at first. He tried to walk the ball up before Scottie Barnes applied token pressure in the backcourt. This wasn’t a trap or anything. James Harden wasn’t being covered; he was leisurely taking his time up the court as well.
Then, Mitchell saw that time was an issue, but he made the mistake of running to the sideline and right into where Harden was aimlessly standing. He had to double back, although at that point, he only had one second to get it over the line.
Toronto pounced.
Jamal Shead sensed the moment. He dove over the half-court line, forced Mitchell back, and poked the ball free. It was a heads-up play from a guy willing to do whatever it took to get the job done.
Shead’s effort isn’t what made this play possible. Instead, it was Cleveland’s lack of focus in the biggest moments — the thing that has come to define this era of basketball.
When we think of this core group, we don’t remember the big playoff wins — because outside of Game 7 against the Orlando Magic (a series the Cavs should’ve won in five) and the Game 2 victory over a sleepwalking Boston Celtics team in ‘24 — there haven’t been any. Just a steady stream of fourth-quarter collapses against teams they’re more talented than on paper.
Same story. Different year. Same result.
The Cavs are 4-10 in road playoff games in the Mitchell era. And if you take out two victories over a 37-45 Miami Heat team last season, they’ve only defeated two road playoff opponent that were over .500 despite being in their fourth year together. Just two.
This was Cleveland’s best chance to steal a road game. The Raptors were shooting as if they had Raptor-proportioned arms, going 4-30 (13.3%) from three. This wasn’t the case of the Cavs making incredible contests on these shots. Instead, it was just one of the worst shooting performances you’ll see from an NBA team.
The Cavs — who have been an elite offense since trading for James Harden — couldn’t get anything going. Their star guards couldn’t shake free of Toronto’s bigger wings, and Cleveland’s bigs couldn’t capitalize on the size advantage they did have. This led to a stagnant offense, the same one we’ve seen in the previous three postseason runs for this core.
Mitchell’s teams have consistently lost in the playoffs, but he’s generally scored well in the biggest defeats.
He hasn’t advanced to the conference finals, yet he’s also one of the best playoff scorers in league history. Those two facts would lead you to believe that Mitchell has just been stuck on teams that aren’t talented enough to win or that he’s run into bad luck. There’s been instances of both things being true, but there’s something much bigger at play as well.
The best playoff players can beat teams in a wide variety of ways. No matter how good you are, your opponent will inevitably figure out how to take away what you do best. The ones who can adjust to those adjustments and still impact winning are the most successful. This is why well-rounded players are rewarded more in the playoffs.
Mitchell is well-rounded, but only as a scorer. He’s not a plus defender, isn’t a good playmaker for others considering how much he has the ball, and isn’t disruptive away from the play. This leaves a one-note player whose effectiveness is tied completely and solely to his scoring.
When the scoring isn’t there, as it wasn’t in Game 4 when he went 6-24 from the field, there aren’t many ways he can impact winning outside of just being a decoy for others. But again, that isn’t as impactful as it could be since Mitchell doesn’t do much off-ball.
Can you win with someone like that as your best player? So far in Mitchell’s career, the answer has been no. And if that answer doesn’t change this postseason, is an undersized scoring guard that will be on the wrong side of 30 by the start of next season worth a super-max extension? That’s something the Cavs will have to decide in the summer.
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Harden continues to struggle with the Raptors’ length. After carving them up through the first two games of the series, he’s registered more turnovers than field goals in both contests in Toronto. This included coughing it up seven times on a day the Cavs couldn’t get anything going toward the basket.
The Cavs have become a one-dimensional jump shooting team during their worst playoff failures in the last four years. Harden was supposed to help that by getting downhill and force-feeding Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. That hasn’t happened.
The pick-and-roll game has completely dried up. Toronto simply switching that action has kept the Cavs from even trying to get downhill. Instead, they’re using guards to screen to create open three-point looks. That’s fine as a counter, but it can’t be used as a substitute altogether.
The Raptors’ defense looks impenetrable because they’ve never had to collapse. Rotating out to a shooter on the perimeter isn’t the same as scrambling inside. The Cavs should have talented enough offensive weapons to create and exploit mismatches. At the very least, they did in the first two games of the series.
Jarrett Allen needs to be better.
I asked head coach Kenny Atkinson if they need to do a better job of getting Allen involved when he has RJ Barrett matched up with him before Game 3. Atkinson said they did, but he also pointed to there being other ways to be impactful against a mismatch. This includes being used in the dunker’s spot to clean up misses or finish lobs.
Theoretically, those would be a good way to use Allen. It just hasn’t happened in a meaningful way.
In the last two games, the Raptors haven’t been punished in any meaningful way by putting a smaller player on Allen. The Cavs generated second-chance opportunities, and Allen did record six offensive rebounds in Game 4, but that hasn’t moved the needle.
In February, Allen was aggressive in punishing smaller defenders whenever he got an opportunity to do so. That simply isn’t happening anymore, even when he gets a 6’1” guard matched up against him.
You can’t take away everything from your opponent in the postseason. You have to make concessions and dare certain players to beat you if it means you can better defend something else. The Raptors are conceding mismatches to Allen whenever he wants them. However, neither the Cavs nor Allen has any interest in taking advantage of it.
With seemingly every button the Raptors have pressed, they’re both having their cake and eating it too.
Scottie Barnes is running circles around Evan Mobley.
There’s no doubt as to who the best player in the series has been on both sides of the ball — let alone in this rivalry from the 2022 Rookie of the Year race.
Barnes has showcased a versatility as a scorer, defender, rebounder, and passer that has made him far and away the most valuable player on either team. Having an incredibly high motor helps as well. That all stands in stark contrast with Mobley, who still needs the perfect environment to be his most impactful self.
Mobley was phenomenal in Game 2. He was punishing mismatches and doing a great job of being a distributor whenever the defense rotated over to help. That effectiveness has waned. The Raptors have been better at sending late help at Mobley and walling him off before getting too deep into the post. This has thrown off Mobley’s timing and made him only effective at really going after Jakob Poeltl.
As is a theme with the Cavs, the lack of versatility from Mobley has limited his effectiveness. When his best skill is taken away by his opponent, he doesn’t have enough counters to turn to.
Barnes, on the other hand, can seemingly do whatever he wants. No matter who the Cavs put on him, he’s getting to his spot on the floor. And once there, he has the skills to hurt them with the shot, pass, or getting to the rim.
That versatility shows up on the defensive end as well. Barnes’s ability to shut down actions from both guards and bigs has disrupted Cleveland’s entire flow.
Cleveland isn’t matching Toronto’s toughness either physically or mentally.
Physically, Toronto pushed Cleveland’s bigs and guards off their spots. They forced Mitchell and Harden into being outside shooters and limited Allen and Mobley to a combined 11 points on 16 shots. This allowed them to control the glass, the paint, and more importantly, the tempo of the game.
Mentally, the Raptors never let up. They were focused throughout the full 48 minutes on what they needed to do. Mental errors didn’t happen. And when things got tough, they dug down even deeper.
Basketball isn’t always won in the trenches, but it can certainly be lost there, as the Cavs have shown in previous postseason runs and did again in Game 4.
They’ve provided no reasons to believe in this team. The Cavs may still win the series and could be expected to do so with two of the possible three games at home. But we’ve seen this movie too many times before to believe that’s guaranteed.
They don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt now, or frankly, any time in the future as long as this core group is together. They’ve continually shrunk in the biggest moments, with their best players failing to rise to the occasion when they need them to.
Game 4 was just another entry in a long line of disappointments.
It’s on the Cavs to change the narrative. And if Sunday afternoon was any indication of things, they don’t seem willing enough to put in the effort to actually do so.
