Quick Reaction: Raptors 120, Cavaliers 125

Jakob had his best game in the series so far, he was handling Scottie’s hot passes and finishing under the rim frequently. He was finishing from the dunker’s spot, and moving well under the rim to give himself a lane to receive these passes, and he was going up with it instantly. He was better on the glass tonight as well. He also hung in on defence and even protected the rim well. His agility and mobility were as good as they’ve been for weeks. Strong stuff.

Scottie came out blazing in the first half, his mid range shot looked excellent, and he was punishing Cleveland for sagging off of him. His passing was what really stood out, especially his interior passing. He was whipping no look passed to the paint so frequently for good looks. He was pretty silent in the second half offensively, as he seemed to be nursing some sort of thigh injury that caused him to be very subdued compared to the first half. Still, a very strong game that could have been exceptional if he had carried it over the finish line.

RJ did pretty well as a driver tonight, he was pretty physical, driving his shoulder into defenders time after time en route to the basket. Evan Mobley, for example, couldn’t handle his physicality and frequently got knocked way back by Barrett under the rim. He was pretty relentless in his driving and finishing and got to the foul line plenty of times. Free throws were his kryptonite tonight, missing almost half of his attempts on the night.

Ingram left the game with heel inflammation, and it was revealed afterwards that he has been battling the injury for weeks. He accomplished little before he left, blocking a shot as the helper being his largest contribution.

Ja’Kobe was brilliant tonight, and he had a complete 180 as a shooter in this series. He drilled nearly everything in the first half, even deep bombs. His point of attack defense was strong at times, although he got burned a few times, but his outside shooting was incredible, coming mostly from spot up looks. He forced a couple of turnovers and ran well in transition.

Mamu’s off-ball defense was pretty poor tonight, multiple times he got caught ball watching and would allow his man to slip by him for an easy rim look. His help defense was also pretty poor, so many times he would be out of position and then try to switch off of his initial man, but to no avail. He tried to attack some closeouts but he could not navigate Cleveland’s defense, so his offensive impact was limited to a couple of catch and shoot threes.

He started the second half and get shelled, didn’t play again.

Shead looked very comfortable as a ball handler tonight, and he got up more volume than he usually does. He provided his usual brand of high-effort defense, and he was often the player pushing the ball on Toronto’s fast breaks. He hit some much-needed threes, including a crucial one toward the end of the 4th. He had some terrific assists, and he injected pace into Toronto’s offence, too. A stellar game.

Battle had a couple of huge buckets in the 4th quarter, including a slick alley-oop layup finish from a Jakob Poeltl delay action pass. Battle stepped up defensively a few times, and he really showed some nice perimeter defense when it was needed. 

CMB took advantage of the looks he got tonight, shooting 4-5 from the field, and his defensive versatility was on full display tonight, he was switching in and out of actions and really making a mess everywhere for Cleveland. The highlight was an exceptional block on a would-be Allen dunk. He wasn’t as forceful on the glass as we’ve seen him be in this series tonight, and this held him back offensively as well.

Rajakovic tried Lawson in the second half, and it worked poorly. He wasted a challenge early on a low-leverage call that he lost. Still, the Raptors dominated the game until injures took Ingram out entirely and Barnes out of his aggression. He clearly had the Raptors ready to play.