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TORONTO, CANADA – DECEMBER 07: Brandon Ingram #3 of the Toronto Raptors walks the floor during a break in play during the second half of their NBA game against the Boston Celtics at Scotiabank Arena on December 7, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and\/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement (Photo by Cole Burston\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
On Saturday, the Toronto Raptors<\/a> played Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> (in Ohio).<\/p>\n The Raptors lost by a score of 126-113.<\/p>\n Brand Ingram finished with 17 points, two rebounds, four assists and one block while shooting 5\/9 from the field in 36 minutes of playing time.<\/p>\n Underdog NBA wrote:<\/a> \u201cBrandon Ingram\u2019s second half: 4 PTS 0-1 FG 0-0 3PT Raptors fall to 5-18 all-time in Game 1s.\u201d<\/p>\n Brandon Ingram Makes Brutally Honest Statement GettyBrandon Ingram #3 of the Toronto Raptors celebrates a teammate\u2019s basket against the Brooklyn Nets<\/a> during the second half of their basketball game at the Scotiabank Arena on April 12, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.<\/p>\n After the game, Ingram made an honest statement when he met with the media<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ingram: \u201cCoach wanted to use me as a screener\u2026 He noticed that my man wasn\u2019t coming off of me. He wanted me outside of the action a little bit of being a receiver\u2026 At the end of the day, me shooting nine shots is not gonna win a basketball game.\u201d<\/p>\n Ingram is in his first season playing for the Raptors.<\/p>\n He finished the regular season with averages of 21.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists per contest while shooting 47.7% from the field and 38.2% from three-point range in 77 games.<\/p>\n Joel Moran of Pick a Side wrote during the game:<\/a> \u201cThe Raptors half court offense is putrid and it\u2019s enough of a reason to completely fade Toronto from winning more than 1 game in this series. Toronto is relying on tough Brandon Ingram<\/a> middies and outside of that they can\u2019t do anything Cavaliers are on a different tier\u201d<\/p>\n GettyBrandon Ingram #3 of the Toronto Raptors celebrates a three-point basket against the Cleveland Cavaliers with teammates Scottie Barnes<\/a> #4 and Jamal Shead<\/a> #23 during second half action at Scotiabank Arena on November 24, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.<\/p>\n Ingram And The Raptors<\/p>\n The Raptors have been one of the best feel good stories of the 2026 NBA<\/a> season.<\/p>\n They are in the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2022.<\/p>\n Ingram is a huge part of their success.<\/p>\n X User @sig_50 wrote:<\/a> \u201cIt\u2019s to the Raptors own demise if Brandon Ingram isn\u2019t going to be a stable feature in their playoff structure. This is unacceptable (2nd Half Usage, Attempts): In order to attempt to win games this series they have to slow down, muck it up on defense and rely on tough-buckets.\u201d<\/p>\n GettyBrandon Ingram #3 of the Toronto Raptors hugs rapper GloRilla after hitting the game winning shot against the Indiana Pacers<\/a> in their basketball game at the Scotiabank Arena on November 26, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.<\/p>\n Before the Raptors, Ingram had spent time with the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> and New Orleans Pelicans<\/a> over ten seasons.<\/p>\n He is coming off a regular season where he made his second All-Star Game.<\/p>\n GettyBrandon Ingram #24 of Team Giannis dribbles the ball in the second quarter against Team LeBron during the 69th NBA All-Star Game at the United Center on February 16, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois.<\/p>\n Game 2 of the series will be on Monday night before the teams head to Toronto for Games 3 and 4.<\/p>\n The Raptors last won a title in 2019.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tBen Stinar<\/a> Ben Stinar has been covering the NBA for over seven years.\u00a0
\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Raptors\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty TORONTO, CANADA – DECEMBER 07: Brandon Ingram #3 of the Toronto Raptors walks the floor during a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3796],"tags":[7,6,478,470,4073,4072,675],"class_list":{"0":"post-713691","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-pelicans","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-new-orleans","11":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","12":"tag-neworleans","13":"tag-neworleanspelicans","14":"tag-pelicans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116429776728261844","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2270622622.jpg\")
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\nHe has written for OnSI, Forbes, Amico Hoops, The Big Lead and had a podcast with former All-Star Jameer Nelson. More about Ben Stinar<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n