Trailing entering the fourth, the Cleveland Cavaliers conquered past playoff demons with a gritty, turnover-free fourth-quarter comeback, showing they've learned from past playoff failures.
There's a reason the NBA playoffs are "different" from the regular season. That was obvious on Wednesday night, when a tense Game 5 with the Toronto Raptors teetered between a statement win and full-blown disaster for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Entering the fourth quarter, the Cavs trailed by three, which felt pretty miraculous given how underwhelming they had played for the first three quarters. For most of the 48 minutes, Toronto simply looked like they cared more than they did.
Something flipped in the fourth quarter. Maybe it was simply the fact that veteran guard Dennis Schroder came alive off the bench to score 11 of his 19 points in that stanza. Maybe it was the fact that Cleveland eliminated the turnovers that had turned into 28 Raptors points on the night.
Whatever it was, head coach Kenny Atkinson believed he watched his team grow up in real time.
"Especially this group that's trying to, we're trying to get over a hump. We're trying to get to the next level," Atkimson said. "So, I mean, that's a real mental challenge to me, right? Like, especially in a game five, [series tied] two, two. These are high-pressure moments. You're down. You could feel the crowd getting nervous. So, you know, I think we took a step tonight."
Cavs fans are all too familiar with games like this one going a much different direction. The core of Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen have been at the forefront of some pretty egregious postseason letdowns over the last four years.
Certain moments just felt too big for this group on the grand stage that is the NBA postseason. That was certainly the case in Sunday's Game 4, when Cleveland led by eight with under five minutes to play, only to completely implode the rest of the way.
Over the final 5:57 of regulation in that game, the Cavs didn't register a single defensive rebound. Those are the types of mental lapses that have defined this era of Cavaliers basketball.
In the final six minutes or so of Wednesday's game, Cleveland outscored the Raptors 12-9. Across the entire fourth quarter, they didn't commit a single turnover and held Toronto to just 25% shooting from the floor. Finally, the scars of postseason past had paid off.
"Whatever happens in this series and all that and next series, whatever, tonight was a test and, you know, we kind of passed that mental toughness test tonight" Atkinson added.
What also made it a significant moment was the fact that Mitchell didn't need to play Spider-Man to lift his team to victory. He scored just 19 points on the night, and not a single one came in the fourth quarter.
At one point in the final stanza a lineup of Schroeder, Sam Merrill, James Harden, Jarrett Allen and Max Strus was playing so well, Mitchell even waved off Atkinson trying to put him and Mobley back in the game. It was a rare example of a star player trusting his teammates on the biggest stage.
"It's about the group, right?," said Mitchell. He asked me and Evan and we were just like, 'why?' This is working, we're getting stops. And I think the biggest thing about this group, it's about the collective. It's not about one person or two people, we know who we are. And we knew what Dennis was bringing."
Mitchell also sensed what Atkinson did. His team had finally cleared a major mental hurdle.
"What did we get down 12, 14? The boos, the fans feeling it. It's easy to allow that effect you," Mitchell said. "But we've been here. I said it after Games 3 and 4, we didn't play well, and we just continued to stay with it. It wasn't perfect, but it was solid. This is the playoffs, it's not gonna be easy."
The thing about the playoffs, though, is that the second you think you've got ot all figured out, they'll humble you again. There's not much time to feel good about a pivotal Game 5 win with Game 6 and a close out opportunity looming for the Cavs on Friday. For a group that's now 4-10 in road playoff games since Mitchell's arrival in 2022, another test awaits North of the Border.
"Now the big one is like, can you go and beat this team on the road? Right?," said Atkinson. "Like, we're, you know, can we go in there and go take this because, you know, we haven't shown we can yet."
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