Transcription
Hello Raptors fans and welcome back to Raptors Report. I'm your host Julian and today we are going to be talking about the Toronto Raptors victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in game three. They managed to keep their season alive. This was pretty much it, you know, win or go down 0-3.
Teams do not come back from 0-3, but if you win your two home games, anything is possible in the NBA. So, I am just really proud of the team and we are going to get into what I saw from the Toronto Raptors, the adjustments they made, who played well, who didn't play well, all that good stuff. So, let's jump right in.
So, the Toronto Raptors got some big-time performances in this game and they also made some adjustments. They changed the starting lineup. They didn't do what I suggested, which was move Jakob Poeltl to the bench. He started again and in this game he was a little bit better than he has been. He made a couple of good defensive plays. He was hitting his floater. He didn't turn the ball over. It wasn't great, but it was a bit better. So, kudos to the coaching staff for recognizing that they got to get something out of this guy. They kept him in the starting lineup, didn't hurt them.
But, like the big big things that happened in this game was that they created chaos, they turned the Cavs over and then they got some big-time performances from RJ Barrett, Scottie Barnes, Kolin Murray-Boyles and Jamison Battle. We'll get into that.
Now, the change in the starting lineup that they made was to move Shed to the bench and bring Jalen Wilson into the starting lineup. And the idea there is that Shed is the point guard, but he creates issues in on the offensive side of the ball with his inability to stretch the floor and he also is a little too small to guard either Mitchell or Harden. He is a, you know, small point guard and while he is very disruptive and creates a lot of turnovers, he's not that great of a one-on-one defender, especially against larger players. So, they replaced him with Jalen Wilson, who didn't have a very good game, but it did kind of stymie the Cavaliers offense at least until, you know, he picked up two quick fouls and had to hit the bench.
But, I think that the defensive start in this game was a little bit better. They were a lot more switchable. We had Scottie Barnes guarding on the perimeter yet again. They were doing a pretty good job of tracking and covering the Cavs pick and roll. With Jalen in the starting lineup, they were a little bit more switchable, a little bit more flexible. You had Scottie Barnes guarding on the perimeter. They decided to put RJ onto Bigs because they didn't want him to be put into the pick and roll, which I thought was a really good adjustment. I think that that really helped them contain the pick and roll. So, instead of having RJ, you know, trying to guard Harden on the perimeter, you have Scottie Barnes guarding Harden. I thought that was a really good strategy and it worked pretty well.
On offense, you know, you're missing the ball handling of Jamal Shed, but at the same time this kind of unlocked RJ Barrett. In this game he's been good on offense this whole series, but in this game he was truly special. He was running the pick and roll very well. They and he was, you know, playing kind of like the point guard. Him and Scottie were handling the ball for the most part, which I think, you know, really played to their strengths in this series. And I've been saying about RJ, like his defense has not been very good. Let's just be honest. Although it was better yesterday, especially in isolation. He was able to stonewall Harden a couple of times, which is, you know, good. He has been a good isolation defender for most of his tenure with Toronto. But, the reason he's playing is that he's like a double-edged sword. Yeah, there's moments when he's going to hurt you defensively, but he is one of the best ways to attack the Cleveland Cavaliers defense.
Um, James Harden was tasked with guarding RJ and he absolutely cooked him. Like he ran roughshod over Harden on the offensive end. He was getting into the paint. He was hitting open shots. They kept putting Harden into pick and roll coverage and, you know, even, you know, isolation coverage and RJ was just getting into the paint and dealing and making great passes and scoring on the inside. I thought he was great in this game. The shooting was insane, but it was more than that, too. The playmaking, the finishing inside, all that stuff. Great game from him. Harden is like an amazing player. Like don't get me wrong, but he's a poor one-on-one defender. That's just how it is. And if you want to be able to beat a team with Harden on it, you got to be able to attack that matchup and exploit that matchup as much as possible. And RJ is really the only non-injured guard/wing that can take advantage of that matchup and boy did he ever do that last night. So, kudos to him. He was very good.
The Toronto Raptors in this game they jumped out to a big lead early. They had a 10-point lead in the first half, which they kind of squandered. You know, they turned the ball over too much. Max Strus got hot. It was a close game for most of the game. Brandon Ingram, unfortunately, he had another forgettable night. He was like bumbling, stumbling, slipping, losing control of the ball. He shot a bit better, but this was a bad performance from him on both ends. He made some big mistakes on defense as well. On the bright side, his shooting was better, but he was like a negative, I would say. I honestly think this is the nerves and there was sort of a ray of sunshine at the end of the game when he was able to hit a three kind of in garbage time when Darko put him back on the floor, which I think is a smart move, but he has not looked like Brandon Ingram. Like he has looked pretty poor.
So, hopefully the first three games the Toronto Raptors vibes have improved. Maybe he can get going. That's what I'm hoping.
Warren Weisfeld on Twitter actually remarked, and I thought it was pretty smart, that maybe Darko left Ingram in the game with three fouls in the first half so that he would pick up his fourth foul and thus not be able to play for a lot of the game, which is what happened. Like he fouled, got his fourth foul in the first half and then Darko sat him for most of the rest of the game, which, you know, helped the Raptors cuz he has not been playing well.
And after the tight third quarter where it was just neck and neck and team they were trading baskets and, you know, no team was able to get a firm hold on the game, the Toronto Raptors just blew the doors off in the fourth. And why don't we talk a little bit about some of the huge performances that Toronto Raptors fans were treated to in last night's game.
So, we've already discussed RJ. He had a really good game. He was, you know, running the Toronto Raptors offense very well. He was shooting the ball like insanely well. Like he hit big-time shots all throughout the game. He was really punishing the Cavs for leaving him alone, which is fantastic. That's exactly what you want. But, we've already kind of discussed him, so let's get to, you know, the man of the hour, the guy who was, you know, the best player for the Toronto Raptors, best player on the floor. Although it was kind of close with another guy I'm going to talk about, but Scottie Barnes was incredible, fantastic. He was magnificent on both ends of the ball. He he guarded the Cavs best scorers on the perimeter. He helped out around the basket. He had a block. He had a steal. He dished out 11 assists in this game. So, let's get to the stat line here. 33 points, 11 assists, five rebounds, a steal and a block on 65% from the field, 60% from three, 80% from the free throw stripe with only one turnover. That is one of the greatest Toronto Raptors performances in the playoffs, period. Add in on top of that that this is a must-win game. This is a game where if you lose this game, the series is over. You have to have a big-time performance and he did. And he's been good throughout the series. The first game is probably his weakest game, but he even then he had 20 points, seven assists. This game was unreal, absolutely unreal. Like he is such a special player. Mid-range shots, three-point shots. He was hitting threes. The post moves. He was punishing the Cavs for putting a smaller guy on him. He was just bodying Strus. You know, Dean Wade has been good this series on defense, but even he is a little too small to guard Scottie when he's going to the basket. He just took advantage of everybody. Even Mobley. He was able to to hit shots on him. The little spinning turnaround midi was just, you know, splashing. He was making plays. They would send multiple players to him and he would make the right pass. He had a bunch of really big assists in this game. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. He is a one of the best, you know, players in franchise history, obviously. And when he has his mojo going and he's feeling good, he looks like a superstar. So, wow. Really really just a wow performance.
Next, like another un- like jaw on the floor performance last night, Kolin Murray-Boyles. I am kind of stunned, without words. Like I'm struggling to think of ways to describe what I'm seeing from this rookie, this 20-year-old rookie, 6'7" rookie, 6'7". He was the first rookie in Raptors history to score over 20 points in a playoff game. That's hard to believe, but it is true. And he the Cavs have two really good rim protectors, Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, and he just shredded them like wet tissue paper on the inside. No contest. He was 10 of 13 from the field. Like this guy was dominant on not a lot of attempts. He was automatic with his little baseline kind of floater/jumpshot. They were leaving him open. Like he hit a couple of those shots. And every time he went inside, like most of the time when he on the catch, he was just exploding to the rim. He would catch the ball and was right next to the rim in a millisecond. He was going for it. Like I was so impressed by his tenacity and his bravery. Like he this guy does not have a fear of the moment. The lights are not too bright for this guy. A lot of even veteran players, like we're watching it right now, Brandon Ingram, has struggled under the nerves and this is just not the case with CMB. The guy is got an insane motor. It and he's just got that magnet touch. Like he gets to the rim and he has those that that soft buttery touch on his layups, on his shots around the rim. He's arguably the best driver on the Toronto Raptors. He's decisive. He uses his body so well. Like there were a number of times when he would just catch the ball, go into the body of the shot blocker, be it Allen or Mobley, and then just put it up and in. That's exactly what you got to do against taller players. You got to get them off balance and then you got to put the ball on the glass. Like get it there before they can react. And yeah, he did that. So, he's like as strong as an ox. And he had one of the best playoff blocks I've ever seen, especially from a Raptor. My god, like this was insane. Jarrett Allen caught the ball in the dunker spot and Colin Murray boils like had to react. Like he was not facing Jarrett Allen, so he had to come over and provide that weak side shot blocking. And he pinned Jared Allen's dunk attempt to the backboard and snatched it. It was nasty and the pop from the arena after that happened was electric. Man, I'm getting goosebumps thinking about that. That was one of the sickest plays I've ever seen from a rookie, Raptor, anybody. That was wicked. And he just he plays like a vet. Like I said this about Kon Kniple, there's a couple of players in this draft class who are kind of like that where this guy is just playing he he looks like a 10-year vet of his body, like his size and physicality, and his mentality, and the lack of mistakes, the you know, reading plays as they develop, knowing where to be on offense, like putting in the effort, like knowing how much you need to to try in the off season. That is a huge part of playoff basketball. He has matched the energy and matched the physicality and he is 20. He's a rookie. He is one of the leading scorers for the Raptors as a rookie. Like the Raptors have a special player. The Raptors have a special player. So, you know, glad I was aboard the bandwagon before you know, the stocks went to the moon. Feel like I'm holding Apple stock pre-2005.
Anyway, there's one other guy we got to talk about here. Jameson Battle. Woo. Wow. The shades of what he did earlier in the season against the Cavs. Like he didn't miss a shot. Like yes, that this was obviously his night, but you also got to credit Darko for you know, he hasn't been part of the Raptors rotation. His defense is especially one-on-one on the perimeter, it's a little shaky. But the guy can hit open shots. And Darko decided to roll with him. Just get out there. And he punished the Cavs defensive scheme, which was you know, doubling Scotty Barnes. Scotty Barnes was punishing them. They wanted to get the ball out of his hands and guess what? Guess who it went to? That's right. Jameson Battle. He also got a couple of shots via broken plays and stuff like that. That's always deadly. You know, when your team coughs up you know, an offensive rebound or there's a scramble or something like that, you always got to look out to the shooter because those guys are going to be open more often than not. And goodness gracious, he was just red hot in this game. He blew the game open. Like he was the kind of coup de grace in this game that allowed them to run away with it and and beat the Cavs. He was five of five from the field. He had four threes. And one of my favorite things in the NBA is when a player gets red hot, like starts banging shots. And he was like that. I I am again getting chills, getting goosebumps from just thinking about how sick that shooting display was. Like what like and the pop like oh man. The pop from the crowd when he was hitting those shots was just I like Mike Trigger, I like Matt Devlin, but man, I could have used a Mike Green bang for some of those shots cuz woah. Wow. And yeah, just hearkens back to that earlier game in the season where he also did not miss shot against the Cavs and he saved the Raptors bacon. They were playing like warmed up ass, like just horrible. And he bailed them out in that game and he he again answered the call and delivered a massive performance. Wow.
Um, so, in terms of the game, this was not a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination. Ingram was bad again. Mamou has pretty much been largely absent this series. Koloko cooled off. He was over. They got badly out rebounded. We'll talk about that in a second, but they still won the game. And the energy in Scotiabank Arena was was incredible. Electric. Jurassic Park again. Like I'm getting a little misty right now. It's been a while since the Raptors were in the playoffs and they gave the fans something to cheer about with this game. It was looking kind of you know, pretty bad for the Raptors and it's not over by any stretch of the imagination, but they are still in the series now and the fans got a pretty delightful performance from them.
Um, and really the team like as I mentioned, it wasn't a perfect game and they didn't exactly play their style of basketball cuz they got out rebounded, but the chaotic energy that was there. The fans really fed on that. They were waiting for the Raptors to kind of play their style and they forced a lot of turnovers in this game. They got out in transition. They were making it a really exciting game and the feedback loop between what they were doing on the court and the appreciation from the fans, it really kind of whipped the place into a fever pitch, especially in that fourth quarter when they blew the doors off. That was kind of like a, you know, a catharsis moment when they had been struggling so much. This was really kind of a way of getting that monkey off your back and and making sure that the Cavs knew that this is a series. This is a team that's worth respecting.
Now, they need to focus on game four. You can win game three, you know, you're still down 2-1. You got to win one more in Toronto so that I mean 3-1 is not much better than 3-0, you know? The vast vast majority, like 98% of all series that go to 3-1 or that I remember LeBron did it to the the Warriors a couple years ago, but I can't remember the last time a team came back from 3-1. So, you don't want to be in that position. So, they've got to figure out ways that they can adjust and maybe come back stronger for game two cuz this was a dog fight for most of the game.
The first one is you know, Brandon Ingram. He has to be better. That's literally it. I'm not sure what else they can do to kind of help him out. They're giving him the ball, you know, they didn't give him the ball at the end of game one, which kind of put him into a funk that he hasn't been able to recover from, but he's just got to be better. And hopefully that sort of bailout three in the the last in the fourth quarter, hopefully that gets him going again. I think it was smart of Darko to put him back in the game so that he could you know, cook against some of the scrubs that the Cavs are playing after they threw in the the towel. So, hopefully he can bounce back.
But the bigger thing I think is that they need to win the rebounding battle. That's just it. They they need to be stronger on the boards. They lost the rebounding battle. They were losing 50/50 balls. Jakob Poeltl has not put up a monster rebounding performance like we've seen from him before. And that has hurt them. Like they they need more rebounds, especially if their shots cool off. Like RJ was amazing from three. Scotty Barnes was amazing from three. Like is that going to happen too many times? Of course they could you know, Brandon Ingram could bounce back. Mamou could bounce back. Koloko could bounce back. Those guys could pick up the slack from three-point range, but the point is they've got to win the possession more a little bit more decisively so that it doesn't come down to three-point shooting.
So, I am excited for game four. That is going to be on Sunday at 1:00, another matinee game, but maybe they can send it back to Cleveland tied and then who knows from there.
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