{"id":715463,"date":"2026-04-21T22:49:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T22:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/715463\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T22:49:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T22:49:54","slug":"rookie-collin-murray-boyles-steps-in-and-steps-up-in-playoffs-for-raptors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/715463\/","title":{"rendered":"Rookie Collin Murray-Boyles steps in and steps up in playoffs for Raptors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto Raptor Collin Murray-Boyles (12) grabs a rebound next to Cleveland Cavaliers centre Jarrett Allen (31) in the first half of Monday’s Game 2 of their first-round playoff series in Cleveland.Sue Ogrocki\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

When starting centre Jakob Poeltl started to struggle against the Cleveland Cavaliers again, Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic knew who to turn to.<\/p>\n

Rookie Collin Murray-Boyles.<\/p>\n

Poeltl managed two points and four rebounds in under 10 minutes of play, not touching the court in the second half of Toronto\u2019s 115-105 loss<\/a> to the Cavaliers on Monday. Murray-Boyles stepped into Poeltl\u2019s shoes, finishing with 17 points, seven rebounds, a block and a steal in nearly 26 minutes of play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just the trust that he\u2019s put in me to let me do that with confidence,\u201d said Murray-Boyles on what Rajakovic\u2019s coaching decision meant to him. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve messed up in the past, and now everything that he\u2019s been telling me in the past is now starting to come out in this series, just me attacking the ball, me being aggressive, me being myself. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a process to get to this point, but I\u2019m thankful for an opportunity to guard some of the best guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

A natural power forward at 6-foot-7 and 245 pounds, the 20-year-old Murray-Boyles has played beyond his age in his rookie season with Toronto. The Raptors first-round pick in the 2025 draft, he averaged 8.5 points, five rebounds, and 1.9 assists in the regular season but, more importantly, showed the athleticism and physicality to guard some of the best players in the NBA.<\/p>\n

That includes some of the biggest names in Cleveland\u2019s lineup, such as Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, Donovan Mitchell and James Harden. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome of [the Cavalier] lineups that they had out there with a lot of great shooters,\u201d said Rajakovic on subbing Murray-Boyles in for Poeltl. \u201cWe wanted to be able to switch more in pick-and-rolls and Collin was providing a better matchup there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto Raptor Collin Murray-Boyles, right, grabs a rebound next to Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, left, during Monday’s in Game 2 loss to the Cavaliers.Sue Ogrocki\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Although Murray-Boyles is still a work in progress, Rajakovic likes what he\u2019s seen from the big rookie in his first two NBA playoff games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s figuring out the intensity of [the] NBA game, figuring out referees and what is a foul in the playoffs, what\u2019s not a foul. Obviously, there is a difference there,\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cI thought that he did a really good job for a rookie to step in there, and he did not flinch one moment. He did not back off. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of him. This is amazing for his growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murray-Boyles said that his biggest takeaway from postseason basketball is that it requires increased concentration.<\/p>\n

\u201cRealistically, the mentality shouldn\u2019t be different,\u201d said Murray-Boyles in the visitors\u2019 locker room at Rocket Arena in Cleveland. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to play every game the same way, regardless if it\u2019s regular season or playoffs, but it\u2019s just another level of focus, like it\u2019s the biggest thing, every possession matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers hold a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Toronto\u2019s Scotiabank Arena will host Game 3 on Thursday and Game 4 on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Toronto Raptor Collin Murray-Boyles (12) grabs a rebound next to Cleveland Cavaliers centre…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3770],"tags":[10388,10376,7,10389,4500,9436,10390,4821,10371,10382,10383,10378,10372,10370,7678,6682,10387,10381,10375,10401,10373,10374,10380,10377,1943,2679,10391,9876,6,10396,10397,10399,10394,10398,10392,10395,6870,10385,10386,3559,10384,10393,681,83,1963,680,476,3820,9087,10379,4486,447,10400],"class_list":{"0":"post-715463","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-raptors","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-bc","12":"tag-breaking-news","13":"tag-breaking-news-video","14":"tag-british-columbia","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-nba","37":"tag-new-brunswick","38":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","39":"tag-northwest-territories","40":"tag-nova-scotia","41":"tag-nunavut","42":"tag-ontario","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-photos","45":"tag-political-news","46":"tag-political-opinion","47":"tag-politics","48":"tag-politics-news","49":"tag-quebec","50":"tag-raptors","51":"tag-sports-news","52":"tag-technology","53":"tag-toronto","54":"tag-toronto-raptors","55":"tag-torontoraptors","56":"tag-travel","57":"tag-trudeau","58":"tag-us-news","59":"tag-world-news","60":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715463","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=715463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}