2026 NBA Playoffs - East First Round - #4 Cleveland Cavaliers vs #5 Toronto Raptors (Series tied 2-2)

[vado]

Scottie always goes hard against his former national team guys (Cade, Mobley, Suggs) and we have a full squad ready to go and (I feel) underestimated. I'm hoping that Cleveland comes into this overconfident so we can punch them in the mouth right away. CMB (who is as solid as a rock) and Jakob are pretty good inside, leaving Scottie to patrol the wings on D. Defense wins championships, and these teams are pretty well matched that way. So I'm picking (hoping for, really) the upset. Raps in 6. No, seriously. Really.

And I'm happy about the 1pm start, because I'm still in Europe for a couple more weeks. I can actually watch game 1 without staying up all night lol!

I think the Raptors are a little better than their record assuming IQ plays. CMB / Walter have grown so much and are much better today than they were even 6 weeks ago. Their progression has been wild to watch.

That being said - CLE is also much better than their record IMO after the Harden deal.

Raptors SL this year has actually been quite good - in theory shortening the benches benefits TOR more than is does CLE.

IQ
Barrett/Walter
Ingram
Barnes/CMB
Poeltl/Mamu

is likely the only guys who see the floor.

Shead is going to see some mins with IQ banged up

[ForeverTFC]

RAPS IN 4

[JujitsuFlip]

Cavs should sit Allen. They don't really need him to handle Toronto.

I don't know if I'd go that far. Toronto is one of those teams you want to play big against.

One of the only Cavs weakness is their ability to defend the 3. Raptors rank near the bottom as a team.
Cavs are one of the best at that in the league.
Raptors ability to score in the paint, Allen or no Allen, will not be enough to offset that difference.

Raptors is the best matchup Cavs could have hoped for in the first round.

You don't rest guys in the playoffs. If Allen can tolerate the pain, he'll play. If ya wanna limit his minutes a bit, based on the flow of the game, fine. But Bryant currently has a calf strain and I hate when Wade plays 5.

If Bryant is healthy enough to absorb spot minutes for Allen, then sure limit him. Otherwise just gotta try to win the series in as few games as realistically possible.

[Iwasawitness]

Cavs should sit Allen. They don't really need him to handle Toronto.

I don't know if I'd go that far. Toronto is one of those teams you want to play big against.

One of the only Cavs weakness is their ability to defend the 3. Raptors rank near the bottom as a team.
Cavs are one of the best at that in the league.
Raptors ability to score in the paint, Allen or no Allen, will not be enough to offset that difference.

Raptors is the best matchup Cavs could have hoped for in the first round.

That may be true but Cleveland is going to want this one to be over as quickly as possible. The longer this series goes on for, the worse off we'll be.

[YogurtProducer]

Scottie always goes hard against his former national team guys (Cade, Mobley, Suggs) and we have a full squad ready to go and (I feel) underestimated. I'm hoping that Cleveland comes into this overconfident so we can punch them in the mouth right away. CMB (who is as solid as a rock) and Jakob are pretty good inside, leaving Scottie to patrol the wings on D. Defense wins championships, and these teams are pretty well matched that way. So I'm picking (hoping for, really) the upset. Raps in 6. No, seriously. Really.

And I'm happy about the 1pm start, because I'm still in Europe for a couple more weeks. I can actually watch game 1 without staying up all night lol!

I think the Raptors are a little better than their record assuming IQ plays. CMB / Walter have grown so much and are much better today than they were even 6 weeks ago. Their progression has been wild to watch.

That being said - CLE is also much better than their record IMO after the Harden deal.

Raptors SL this year has actually been quite good - in theory shortening the benches benefits TOR more than is does CLE.

IQ
Barrett/Walter
Ingram
Barnes/CMB
Poeltl/Mamu

is likely the only guys who see the floor.

Shead is going to see some mins with IQ banged up

Hope not.

Shead is not a serious NBA player. We would be way better off running literally anyone else out at PG. Can't be an NBA player in the playoffs with a tS% below 50%.

[lobosloboslobos]

Going with an upset of TOR in 6. Barnes and CMB will give CLE fits and their frontcourt has been exposed repeatedly in the playoffs for being soft. Plus CLE has Harden

you saying Raps best chance to win is the gutlessness of Cavs best players?

I'll take 2 platters of that with a side of Raps in 4

[jbk1234]

I've read the first couple pages in the thread and I don't if both teams will be 100% healthy. IQ and maybe Jarrett Allen will be out? I'm not sure.

Overall, I think the Cavs' talent level is better than Toronto's, specially if their top 4 is available. Plus the supporting players are better than Toronto's as well.

I voted Cleveland in 6 in the poll.

Allen's health is the big X factor for the Cavs, not just for this series, but moving forward. One of the issues the Cavs have is that whenever one of Allen or Mobley go down, they lose not only their starting PF (when Mobley slides over or is out), but their backup center as well. If Allen is healthy, I don't think much of the Raptors chances. We can put Wade on Ingram, Mobley on Barnes, and outside of the high PNR, there's not a lot that Raptors can do with Poeltl in terms of spacing. It's not hard to see a situation where the Raptors offense just gets stuck in the mud.

[Iwasawitness]

I've read the first couple pages in the thread and I don't if both teams will be 100% healthy. IQ and maybe Jarrett Allen will be out? I'm not sure.

Overall, I think the Cavs' talent level is better than Toronto's, specially if their top 4 is available. Plus the supporting players are better than Toronto's as well.

I voted Cleveland in 6 in the poll.

Allen's health is the big X factor for the Cavs, not just for this series, but moving forward. One of the issues the Cavs have is that whenever one of Allen or Mobley go down, they lose not only their starting PF (when Mobley slides over or is out), but their backup center as well. If Allen is healthy, I don't think much of the Raptors chances. We can put Wade on Ingram, Mobley on Barnes, and outside of the high PNR, there's not a lot that Raptors can do with Poeltl in terms of spacing. It's not hard to see a situation where the Raptors offense just gets stuck in the mud.

Bryant being here changes that for Cleveland. He provides actual positive value for Cleveland with his shooting and defense to the point where you can justify giving him minutes.

My big concern is what that does against other teams. The Pistons for example are a team we will definitely want to run the two bigs lineup against.

[Duffman100]

I think the Raptors are a little better than their record assuming IQ plays. CMB / Walter have grown so much and are much better today than they were even 6 weeks ago. Their progression has been wild to watch.

That being said - CLE is also much better than their record IMO after the Harden deal.

Raptors SL this year has actually been quite good - in theory shortening the benches benefits TOR more than is does CLE.

IQ
Barrett/Walter
Ingram
Barnes/CMB
Poeltl/Mamu

is likely the only guys who see the floor.

Shead is going to see some mins with IQ banged up

Hope not.

Shead is not a serious NBA player. We would be way better off running literally anyone else out at PG. Can't be an NBA player in the playoffs with a tS% below 50%.

I was thinking about why we don't just run Lawson. The idea of PG is so overrated at this point, run out the guy that can hit shots.

[jswede]

I am excited!! ! Nothing like the stakes of the playoffs and that intensity.

Good to hear from you Magic.

[jswede]

Cavs in 5... but I do think these could be close games throughout.

Cavs lead 14-2 vs Toronto in playoffs, 3-0 series wins

Cavs won last 10 in a row

[E-Balla]

I wanna see IQ get his revenge... But I don't see it happening. Harden might choke, Scottie might dominate on both ends and show off his versatility, but ultimately I don't think the Raps can take advantage of the soft Cleveland bigs and Don usually shows up in the playoffs.

[LoveMyRaps]

I wanna see IQ get his revenge... But I don't see it happening. Harden might choke, Scottie might dominate on both ends and show off his versatility, but ultimately I don't think the Raps can take advantage of the soft Cleveland bigs and Don usually shows up in the playoffs.

Yeah Mitchell is by far the best player in this series and Cavs are gonna have to live & die by him because I don't trust Harden in a playoff setting.

I feel bad for IQ -- he's been playing the best basketball of his career this year and now he's dealing with two major injuries. He might miss the first few games but I think he'll give it a go.

Excited for RJ to suit up for his hometown and live the dream of playing in the playoffs.

[E-Balla]

I wanna see IQ get his revenge... But I don't see it happening. Harden might choke, Scottie might dominate on both ends and show off his versatility, but ultimately I don't think the Raps can take advantage of the soft Cleveland bigs and Don usually shows up in the playoffs.

Yeah Mitchell is by far the best player in this series and Cavs are gonna have to live & die by him because I don't trust Harden in a playoff setting.

I feel bad for IQ -- he's been playing the best basketball of his career this year and now he's dealing with two major injuries. He might miss the first few games but I think he'll give it a go.

Excited for RJ to suit up for his hometown and live the dream of playing in the playoffs.

I think y'all are done in 5, but I'm mad we didn't get you guys. The Magic blew it, sure I'll be able to get tickets to a game against the Hawks but we been killing y'all all year that's a first round bye lol.

End of the day the Raps play a unique style so you have an outside shot. Especially if the Cavs get banged up like last year against the Magic. Unlike the Magic y'all are good enough to take advantage of their banged up frontcourt if they end up with one.

[JujitsuFlip]

I wanna see IQ get his revenge... But I don't see it happening. Harden might choke, Scottie might dominate on both ends and show off his versatility, but ultimately I don't think the Raps can take advantage of the soft Cleveland bigs and Don usually shows up in the playoffs.

Yeah Mitchell is by far the best player in this series and Cavs are gonna have to live & die by him because I don't trust Harden in a playoff setting.

I feel bad for IQ -- he's been playing the best basketball of his career this year and now he's dealing with two major injuries. He might miss the first few games but I think he'll give it a go.

Excited for RJ to suit up for his hometown and live the dream of playing in the playoffs.

I think y'all are done in 5, but I'm mad we didn't get you guys. The Magic blew it, sure I'll be able to get tickets to a game against the Hawks but we been killing y'all all year that's a first round bye lol.

End of the day the Raps play a unique style so you have an outside shot. Especially if the Cavs get banged up like last year against the Magic. Unlike the Magic y'all are good enough to take advantage of their banged up frontcourt if they end up with one.

Cavs played the Magic in 2024.

[E-Balla]

Yeah Mitchell is by far the best player in this series and Cavs are gonna have to live & die by him because I don't trust Harden in a playoff setting.

I feel bad for IQ -- he's been playing the best basketball of his career this year and now he's dealing with two major injuries. He might miss the first few games but I think he'll give it a go.

Excited for RJ to suit up for his hometown and live the dream of playing in the playoffs.

I think y'all are done in 5, but I'm mad we didn't get you guys. The Magic blew it, sure I'll be able to get tickets to a game against the Hawks but we been killing y'all all year that's a first round bye lol.

End of the day the Raps play a unique style so you have an outside shot. Especially if the Cavs get banged up like last year against the Magic. Unlike the Magic y'all are good enough to take advantage of their banged up frontcourt if they end up with one.

Cavs played the Magic in 2024.

Last year they got injured against Indiana then. The Cavs runs are blending in my head they're all so similar somehow other than that first year against the Knicks.

[lethalizer]

I'd be absolutely shocked if the Cavs don't win this series in less than 6, never been a fan of Ingram and if the games are close he'll want to go to his hero ball offense, which is not that hard to gameplan against.

Raptors' only hope for this series in my eyes is pulling away from the Cavs before we get into clutch time, and I don't know how they can accomplish that consistently.

I'm going with Cavs in 5.

[___Rand___]

I was one of the few right at the start of the season to say Raps will make the playoffs. In the first month of the league Raps were in top 3 in East and I was also the only one to put the breaks on it and say nope, we'd be competing for 5th to 8th. We got to our ceiling. I'm also gonna say this team has snowball in hell chance of making it past the 1st round or any hope, even when healthy. There's nothing to watch here. Nobody to root for. Not this core, not this coaching staff, who are still learning to coach in the NBA. And they are still NOT fun to watch. And I've watched every iteration of Raptors since 1995.

[QingJames]

Cavs should sit Allen. They don't really need him to handle Toronto.

I don't know if I'd go that far. Toronto is one of those teams you want to play big against.

One of the only Cavs weakness is their ability to defend the 3. Raptors rank near the bottom as a team.
Cavs are one of the best at that in the league.
Raptors ability to score in the paint, Allen or no Allen, will not be enough to offset that difference.

Raptors is the best matchup Cavs could have hoped for in the first round.

The charmin bros are getting bodied in the paint all series long, come to terms with it now.

Nobody fears Allen and Mobley down low.

[LoveMyRaps]

I wanna see IQ get his revenge... But I don't see it happening. Harden might choke, Scottie might dominate on both ends and show off his versatility, but ultimately I don't think the Raps can take advantage of the soft Cleveland bigs and Don usually shows up in the playoffs.

Yeah Mitchell is by far the best player in this series and Cavs are gonna have to live & die by him because I don't trust Harden in a playoff setting.

I feel bad for IQ -- he's been playing the best basketball of his career this year and now he's dealing with two major injuries. He might miss the first few games but I think he'll give it a go.

Excited for RJ to suit up for his hometown and live the dream of playing in the playoffs.

I think y'all are done in 5, but I'm mad we didn't get you guys. The Magic blew it, sure I'll be able to get tickets to a game against the Hawks but we been killing y'all all year that's a first round bye lol.

End of the day the Raps play a unique style so you have an outside shot. Especially if the Cavs get banged up like last year against the Magic. Unlike the Magic y'all are good enough to take advantage of their banged up frontcourt if they end up with one.

I got Cavs winning as well -- but we have a real shot at winning a couple games. A competitive series against the Cavs is a lot more beneficial for a young team and player development than an ass whooping from the Knicks which was a certainty.