2025-26 Season | Playoff Series #1 | Cavaliers vs. Raptors

Too bad Cavs crapped the bed that last game could been the only team to close out the series in the East in 5 games that was a top 4 seed.
 
Game 5 preview:

After choking away a win that would have given them a commanding 3-1 lead the Cavs return to Cleveland with all the pressure on them. They have to hold serve or this season is for all intents and purposes over.

It was an epic choke.

In the final 4:55 of regulation, Cleveland went 2-of-10 from the field. They surrendered four offensive rebounds. Donovan Mitchell committed an eight-second violation. These aren’t the mistakes of a battle-tested contender — these are the mistakes of a team that panics under pressure. - Chris Fedor

The Raptors opened the door wide and the Cavs still managed to find a way to lose.

Toronto went a ghastly 31 of 97 (32%) from the field and 4 of 30 (13.3%) from beyond the arc. It’s the lowest 3-point shooting percentage ever in a winning playoff game in the 3-point era (with a minimum of 25 attempts). - Fedor

A historically bad shooting performance by the Raptors, which certainly won’t be repeated, and the Cavs still fumbled it away under the bright lights of the playoffs. Still not mentally tough?

[The Cavs were] outscored 29-2 in the final two minutes of the second, third and fourth quarters, showing an alarming lack of composure in pressure moments. - Fedor

The Cavs have the talent to win this series, the question is whether they are still too soft physically and also lack the mental toughness to close out wins in the playoffs.

In the two losses in Toronto, Harden has more turnovers (15) than he does assists (12) and field goals (11). - Pluto

Harden is looking old, heavy, and slow. He needs to eliminate the lazy passes and the attempts to force his way to the rim through a slew of defenders, losing the ball in the process. His passes need to be sharp and when he draws a crowd he needs to pass out of it without turning it over. Sunday was the 44th time he had more turnovers than field goals in the playoffs.

According to Kenny, the Raptors are “speeding us up offensively - creating chaos. We need better spacing and knowing where we’re moving on double teams. We need to make the simple plays and “hit singles.””

Kenny added that the Raptors play swarming defense, are “athletic as heck,” long, and disruptive. “No doubt they’ve had the physicality and energy advantage the last two games. We need to turn it around.”

In a low-scoring grind where every basket was precious, where the game demanded toughness and mental fortitude, Cleveland folded. They abandoned their offensive identity. They looked rattled. They played — as Fedor bluntly stated on the podcast — like the immature team. Like the inexperienced team.

And here’s the haunting reality: we’ve seen this before. The Indiana Pacers series last year. The late-game collapses. The changing of personnel, the retooling of rosters, and yet the same result. Ethan Sands put it plainly — the franchise’s DNA hasn’t changed.

In the final two minutes of the second quarter, third quarter, and fourth quarter combined, the Cavs were outscored 29 to 2. That’s a pattern. - podcast summary

Key stat in this series: 57. That’s the total number of combined missed free throws so far this series. These are the two worst free-throw-shooting teams in the playoffs. Make your free throws and win this series. - The Athletic

In game 4 the Cavs were 10-for-40 on 3’s. Of those 40 attempts, 34 of them were classified as “open” or “wide open”, meaning the nearest defender was at least 4 feet away. They made 7, for a percentage of 20.6%. On the wide open 3-point attempts (more than 6 feet away) they were an appalling 2-for-14. All they needed was 4-for-14, which is still awful, to win the game.

They missed 8 free throws in a 4-point loss. They simply must shoot better. Toronto will not go 4-for-30 on 3’s again.

It’s pretty straightforward. Make the wide open 3’s at a decent percentage. Make your free throws. Reduce the turnovers. Don’t stop playing with two minutes left in the quarter. When you’re outscored by 25 points in the last two minutes of the four quarters and lose by 4, you simply beat yourself.

Dean Wade leads the Cavs with an on/off of +34.5 points per 100 possessions. He’s been by miles their most effective player. He needs to play more than 25 minutes out of 48.

Jarrett Allen is second at +21.5. He needs to play more than 27 minutes. Evan Mobley is a -22.1. He had a miserable two games in Toronto. He needs to find a way to turn it around.

But mainly it’s Harden and Mitchell who need to step up after both committed costly errors in the final two minutes of Game 4. Harden fouled a 3-point shooter and missed an uncontested 14-foot jumper. Mitchell missed three shots and committed an inexcusable 8-second turnover.

The Raptors have adjusted, putting Scottie Barnes on Mitchell and Harden while taking the ball to the paint relentlessly and bullying the smaller Cavs defenders with Barnes and Barrett. Now it’s up to Kenny to adjust. Does he go bigger or stick with his beloved small ball? The Raptors had 21 offensive rebounds in Game 4 and 10 more shot attempts. Does Kenny continue to go small when Wade and Allen are his more effective players against this team?

Kenny said after practice today that they can't continue to let the Raptors get into the paint as often as they have. Well, Kenny, guys like Ellis and Schroder aren't going to keep anybody out of the paint.
 
Will see if Harden can prove it this time in this best of 3 series

We do need some momentum shifters but in order to do that got to play physical, not over helping, box out, win those 2nd opportunities, etc. We need instances where we can pump up the crowd.
 
Dean needs to play with the offensive attitude of Sam
 
It’s just all about adjustments. I think we have a few different methods now to get everyone involved and keep the offense flowing and not be as stagnant. - Evan Mobley

Mobley and Allen combined for 11 points in Game 4.

It’s on guys who have the basketball. But it’s also on them [Mobley and Allen] to present themselves and make themselves available so we can find them. There’s going to be opportunities where we got the advantage, or they got the advantage and we just got to exploit them. - James Harden

Mobley also admitted...that he needs to be more forceful and demanding, especially when being guarded by 6-foot-7 rookie Collin Murray-Boyles who has taken the Mobley assignment more than any other Raptor in this series. According to NBA.com’s matchup data, Cleveland has scored just 48 points in 70 possessions when the rookie has defended Mobley in this series.

Kenny said after Game 4 that they didn't go to Mobley down the stretch because he was being defended by CMB and they "obviously" didn't want to get CMB "involved."

I think we’ve got to play advantage basketball. Whoever has the advantage at the moment has to take that advantage, and from there, it would just cascade down. I definitely got to be more aggressive and attack the paint as much as possible. That’s my plan.

Whoever has the advantage, we gotta take advantage of that, and from there, the game will be a lot easier instead of trying to force the ball to certain people and playing stagnant basketball. - Mobley

Does Mobley have the advantage when he's being guarded by CMB or by Barrett? He has the height advantage but he hasn't shown he can score on them. For that you need a consistent 5-10 foot jump shot which Mobley doesn't have. You can't always get a dunk.

During the regular season, Allen got 38.1 touches per game. In this playoff series against Toronto, that number has dropped to 25.5, despite having a favorable size mismatch most possessions. - Chris Fedor

I don't know if it's his achy knee or because Mitchell and Harden simply feel they need to do more in the playoffs. Harden said the big men need to "make themselves available so we can find them." Is that a veiled criticism? Is he saying Mobley and Allen have just been spectators on offense?

The Cavs are going to try to get the bigs more involved.

Just reward our bigs. We’ve always had that kind of mantra, and we’ve got to do a better job...we’re not hitting them in the pocket like we did Game 1 and 2, so it’s just shifting that mindset. The guys understand how important [they are]. But that’s a big key to us revving our offense up again. - Kenny Atkinson

The Cavs have scored 126, 115, 104, and 89 points. A steady march to the bottom. Something needs to change, and fast.
 
With Mobley on the floor, the Cavs are being outscored by 7.3 points per 100 possessions. With him off, they’re outscoring opponents by 11.2.

The Cavs have been 18.5 points WORSE when Mobley is on the floor. That's for the whole series, not just the last two games. Shocking. His lack of any offensive game other than dunks is being exposed.

By the way, did anybody notice that 13 players received votes for Defensive Player of the Year and Mobley was not one of them? Not a single vote, not even a single 3rd place vote. He went from winning the award last year to not even getting a 3rd place vote this year.

Scottie Barnes was 5th.
 
Toughness or lack thereof gets overused. It's a catch-all criticism that basically every fan lobs at their team when they're losing in the playoffs or in a position they feel their team shouldn't be in.

The Detroit fans are calling their team soft. But when you aren't a fan and are more detached from the emotions then it's easy to clearly see the issues for Detroit. It's not being soft (though perhaps Duren is earning that label). It's having one creator on a middle of the road 3 point shooting team.

Boston isn't in a fight with Philly because they're soft. Anyone who watches that team play can see how hard they play. They're just overly reliant on 3s and don't have a counter when they aren't falling.

So does anyone know that in game 3 the Cavs had 5 more offensive rebounds than Toronto? No one cares though because Toronto made a ton of 3s.

Game 4 rolls around and Toronto scores 93 points. Cavs still lose.

The Cavs shotmaking and shot quality continues to abandon them in the playoffs. Guys who are supposed to be good shooters can't make open 3s. Guys who are supposed to generate good looks start to find a tougher time when bigger stronger defenders start switching onto them.

The Cavs did not build a rough and tumble team that is supposed to grind it out in the 90s. This team is built to shoot and score and they continue to fail at those things when the postseason rolls around.

We are not going to win grindfest games with James Harden and Donovan Mitchell leading the charge. We're just not. Those are two finesse scorers who need to score.
 
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