{"id":190551,"date":"2026-04-20T07:30:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T11:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=190551"},"modified":"2026-04-20T02:17:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T06:17:19","slug":"three-takeaways-from-torontos-game-one-loss-against-cleveland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/04\/20\/three-takeaways-from-torontos-game-one-loss-against-cleveland\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Takeaways From Raptors\u2019 Game 1 Loss Against Cavaliers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The playoffs are undoubtedly one of the most exciting aspects of basketball. It\u2019s the home of iconic moments and unlikely successors. Saturday marked the start of the 2026 NBA playoffs, which began with the Toronto Raptors and the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Going into this game, Cleveland possessed home-court advantage over Toronto. It\u2019s hard to argue that the fans didn\u2019t show up, with their immense amount of roaring and demand. Jurassic Park in Ontario, Canada, was also rowdy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With Immanuel Quickley<\/a> sidelined for the Toronto Raptors with a mild right hamstring strain,<\/a> it was all on other contributors like Jamal Shead<\/a> and Collin Murray-Boyles<\/a> to showcase a defensive identity and speed. Spoiler, that didn\u2019t go as planned. However, it\u2019s a best-of-seven series, so anything can happen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3 Takeaways From Raptors’ Game 1 Loss Against Cavaliers<\/h2>\n

Lack Of Speed At Center<\/h3>\n

Jakob Poeltl<\/a>\u00a0has been Toronto\u2019s starting center this season when he plays. With that being said, if you\u2019ve watched Poeltl, he suffers injuries more often than not. Although he possesses strength and easy athletic ability to put the ball in the net, speed hasn\u2019t always been there. In his first appearance since 2018-19 in a playoff game, that lack of speed showed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the four quarters, Poeltl allowed the Cavaliers\u2019 dual-big-threat in Evan Mobley<\/a> and Jarrett Allen<\/a> to run right past him. Mobley and Allen both combined for 27 points, while Poeltl was scoreless throughout the first half.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In order for this not to occur, or better yet, limit this issue, a change at the center position may be needed. Murray-Boyles was extremely efficient in Saturday\u2019s loss. Boyles\u2019 six-foot-seven frame can potentially help Toronto defend at a higher level<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Let Ingram Shoot The Rock More<\/h3>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

One week ago, Brandon Ingram<\/a> was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week mainly because of his season-high 38-point masterclass against the Miami Heat, which punched Toronto\u2019s ticket to the fifth seed. It\u2019s safe to say, this kind of performance didn’t appear in Game 1.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ingram shot 5-9 from the field, which was higher than both RJ Barrett<\/a>\u2019s <\/span>7-13 and Scottie Barnes<\/a>\u2019 6-14 outing. Moreover, Ingram recently mentioned in a press conference how he could\u2019ve been ”more productive.” Ingram also added how ”shooting nine shots is not going to win a basketball game.”<\/span><\/p>\n

More often than not, if a player is stating that, expect a change in the game plan from the coach. It\u2019s conceivable to see coach Darko Rajakovi\u0107<\/span> utilize Ingram more. However, with this load of expectations comes minimal need for errors.<\/p>\n

Committing Fewer Turnovers<\/h3>\n

Toronto committed 18 turnovers in their 113-126 loss to Cleveland. Although the Cavaliers accumulated 17, it didn\u2019t matter since they contained the Raptors on offense. Toronto\u2019s lack of will to keep the ball away from Cleveland led to easy transition points. Donovan Mitchell<\/a>\u2019s 32-point night was a major factor in the turnover ratio for the Raptors.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Game 2, it’s necessary that on every drive to the rim, there be at least one or two individuals at the three-point line. This would basically prevent turnovers on Toronto\u2019s end from becoming an easy Mitchell or James Harden<\/a> layup.<\/p>\n

Featured Image: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The playoffs are undoubtedly one of the most exciting aspects of basketball. It\u2019s the home of iconic moments and unlikely successors. Saturday marked the start of the 2026 NBA playoffs, which began with the Toronto Raptors and the Cleveland Cavaliers.\u00a0 Going into this game, Cleveland possessed home-court advantage over Toronto. It\u2019s hard to argue that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5792,"featured_media":191077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,14],"tags":[308,49857,900,3966,968,49199,1043,596,1964,3852],"class_list":["post-190551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-raptors","tag-brandon-ingram","tag-collin-murray-boyles","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-evan-mobley","tag-jakob-poeltl","tag-jamal-shead","tag-jarrett-allen","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-rj-barrett","tag-scottie-barnes"],"modified_by":"Benjamin Yu","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5792"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190551"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191082,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190551\/revisions\/191082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}