{"id":715071,"date":"2026-04-21T10:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T10:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/715071\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T10:04:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T10:04:00","slug":"9-takeaways-from-cavs-game-2-win-over-raptors-physicality-finally-favors-cleveland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/715071\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Takeaways from Cavs Game 2 win over Raptors: Physicality finally favors Cleveland"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND \u2014 Toronto Raptors<\/a> head coach Darko Rajakovi\u0107 was perplexed about Brandon Ingram\u2019s lack of free throws<\/a> after his team dropped Game 2 to the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> 115-105<\/a>. In the process of that complaint, he admitted something that maybe no other coach has about this era of Cavs basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cCleveland is playing with a lot of physicality,\u201d Rajakovi\u0107 said. \u201cThey\u2019re very prideful of their physicality, and their whole team was very, very physical with Brandon.\u201d<\/p>\n

These comments were mostly directed at how the Cavs defended Ingram, but it also speaks to how this Cavaliers team has evolved on both ends of the floor.<\/p>\n

Donovan Mitchell had one more thing to say to the media after his postgame press conference ended in the wake of his 30-point performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as y\u2019all talk about us three: me, him (James Harden), and Ev (Evan Mobley)\u2026 Dean Wade deserves a ton of credit for tonight,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cI know he only had three points, but his impact is extremely high outside of just scoring. Y\u2019all need to give him his credit. He\u2019s playing at a high level right now for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playoff basketball often comes down to whether you can take away one of the things your opponent does best. The Cavs have made a concerted effort to make Ingram work \u2014 Toronto\u2019s leading scorer \u2014 to impact the series with his jump shot. They\u2019ve been physical with him at the point of attack, forcing him to work to get to his patented midrange jumper.<\/p>\n

And the one making it difficult for Ingram was Wade, due to his strength advantage.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to contest a tough shotmaker like Ingram. At 6\u20198\u201d, he can usually rise above his defender in the midrange for a clean look. And even if the defender does get a contest, he\u2019s skilled enough to make them anyway.<\/p>\n

The best defense for someone like that doesn\u2019t necessarily come from contesting the shot, but by making it challenging for him to get to his spots. This is what Wade did.<\/p>\n

Wade was physical and aggressive in denying Ingram the ball wherever he was on the court. The play below is an example of that.<\/p>\n

The Raptors had to run a screen for Ingram just to get him the ball. Even though Ingram gets a good look after the screen, the physicality from the denial, combined with the impending threat of Wade trailing the play without fouling, contributes to the missed shot.<\/p>\n

Wade\u2019s ability to stay connected with his combination of strength and footspeed means he doesn\u2019t have to sell out to put a good contest on a shot, including one as difficult to do so on as a high-post fadeaway.<\/p>\n

Even though Wade deserves a majority of the credit, he wasn\u2019t the only one who was physical with Ingram. Both Harden and Sam Merrill also had instances of forcefully pushing Ingram off his spots when they were switched onto him. It was truly a team effort.<\/p>\n

Ingram vowed after Game 1 that he needed to take more than just nine shots. He did so here, but wasn\u2019t efficient, going 3-15 for just seven points.<\/p>\n

Cleveland\u2019s physicality on offense showed up in two main ways. First, the Cavs\u2019 star guards weren\u2019t able to be taken out of the game.<\/p>\n

Both Harden and Mitchell did a good job of dealing with Toronto\u2019s ball pressure and the extra contact the referees were allowing. They were still able to get to their spots and keep the offense on track. This has been an issue in the past, as Cleveland\u2019s previously undersized guards were susceptible to double teams and pressure in the backcourt.<\/p>\n

Second, Mobley punished mismatches. The Raptors played much smaller this game, opting to switch screens as much as possible. Mobley made them pay for doing so as he forcefully attacked his smaller defender whenever getting an opportunity to do so, even off of offensive rebounds. This led to a 25-point outing on 11-13 shooting.<\/p>\n

That aggression was much needed on a night the Raptors decided to shift their strategy and play small. Toronto started 6\u20197\u201d forward Collin Murray-Boyles at center in place of their usual big Jakob Poeltl, to open the second half. Afterward, Rajakovi\u0107 said he wanted to do this so that they could easily switch the pick-and-roll and shut that down.<\/p>\n

To Toronto\u2019s credit, the switch shut down the pick-and-roll. The issue is that it made them susceptible to drives to the basket.<\/p>\n

The lack of rim protection more or less left every individual defender on an island. The defenders guarding Cleveland\u2019s bigs weren\u2019t in a position to really help off, given the size disadvantage they already had. This resulted in more lanes for Mitchell and Harden to get to the basket. They took full advantage of that as they combined for 58 points.<\/p>\n

Jarrett Allen wasn\u2019t able to make the most of Toronto playing small. They were able to hide RJ Barrett on him for long stretches without Allen becoming much of a factor as a scorer or as an offensive rebounder. This led to head coach Kenny Atkinson choosing to leave him out of the closing lineup.<\/p>\n

The bench was an issue for the Cavs.<\/p>\n

They only provided 19 points, with none of the five reserves tallying more than six. This gave way to the Raptors\u2019 reserves outscoring Cleveland\u2019s by 26.<\/p>\n

Max Strus and Merrill seem locked into the rotation. The same might not be said for the other three bench players who received minutes.<\/p>\n

Dennis Schroder once again couldn\u2019t find his shot, as he went 1-5 from the field with five points.<\/p>\n

There are concerns about Keon Ellis\u2019s defensive impact on this team. He\u2019s likely best used guarding ones and twos, but he won\u2019t often have the luxury to do so given Cleveland\u2019s backcourt. This leaves him defending some of Toronto\u2019s bigger and stronger wings. He\u2019s struggled in that setting, which makes it difficult for him to get minutes when he isn\u2019t providing much offensively.<\/p>\n

Jaylon Tyson had some good moments as he seemed to calm down after a difficult playoff debut on Saturday. He handled Toronto\u2019s bigger wings well defensively, but hasn\u2019t found a rhythm yet on the other end.<\/p>\n

The Cavs\u2019 offense will go as their core four takes it. That said, the others need to provide much more on that end than they are. The current scoring balance isn\u2019t sustainable over what could be a long postseason run.<\/p>\n

The chemistry between Mitchell and Harden looks like it\u2019s been forged over multiple playoff runs. It hasn\u2019t. This was the duo\u2019s 24th game together. That speaks to how well their games fit and how much they\u2019ve invested in making this work.<\/p>\n

Harden admitted that because they haven\u2019t had much time together, they needed to find other ways to get on the same page. \u201cI think what speeds that process up is communication and talking,\u201d Harden said.<\/p>\n

That includes pointing out when you see something the other could\u2019ve done better, as was the case on at least one occasion on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always communicate what we see,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cHe was telling me what he saw, even though I scored on that possession\u2026there was an easier read that I didn\u2019t see.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cavs made a daring and aggressive move when they traded for Harden as late as they did in the year. Adding someone that important into the mix when they did doesn\u2019t have much of a precedent for resulting in a title or overall playoff success. That just isn\u2019t how basketball is typically played.<\/p>\n

But if it ever were to work, it\u2019d be in a setting like this. One that is open to listening to and implementing feedback. Right now, it seems like the Cavs\u2019 top two stars are trying to approach this the right way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re behind,\u201d Harden said. \u201cI don\u2019t even know how many games we\u2019ve had together, so I think our communication during games, practice days is very, very important. That can get us over the hump. So anytime I gotta say something, or Don say something, we communicate it. We let it be known to the team just so we can all be on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND \u2014 Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovi\u0107 was perplexed about Brandon Ingram\u2019s lack of free throws after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3770],"tags":[7,1236,6,681,680,476,3820],"class_list":{"0":"post-715071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-raptors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cavs-analysis","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-raptors","12":"tag-toronto","13":"tag-toronto-raptors","14":"tag-torontoraptors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116442133938265971","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715071","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=715071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}