Series tied, pressure mounts. Despite two rough games in Toronto the Cleveland Cavaliers aren't getting overly emotional ahead of a pivotal Game 5.
Outside the Cleveland Cavaliers' practice facility in Independence, the pressure surrounding the franchise is mounting.
Once leading their best-of-seven first-round series with the Toronto Raptors 2-0, the Cavs looked poised to dispose of their Eastern Conference foe in short order. When the series shifted to Toronto, though, the Raptors flipped the script, mucking up Game 3 and 4 to even the series up at two games a piece.
Toronto shot 13% from three in Sunday's Game 4 and somehow found a way to win. James Harden's seven turnovers didn't help. Neither did Donovan Mitchell shooting 25% from the floor, or the fact that Evan Mobley was rendered useless on the offensive end in both games north of the border.
The ugliness of it all only makes Wednesday's Game 5 feel even more daunting. Momentum feels like it's heavily in favor of the Raptors at the moment.
However, as the tension builds externally, internally the Cavs are staying level-headed.
That approach starts largely with head coach Kenny Atkinson.
"It's the biggest role I play," he asserted following the team's practice on Tuesday. "Those subtitles, how you deal with the mental piece, the mental performance piece and the messaging, is huge. Not only in the team setting but a lot of one-on-ones, and not just the top guys. I've spent a lot of these past two days having great conversations with the group, but also a lot of individual conversations."
Having a veteran-laden team should help. Take Harden for instance. Over the course of his 17-year career, he's never missed the playoffs, meaning he knows better than anyone the ups and downs that come with a playoff series.
Staying even keel is key, and Harden hopes by practicing that himself it sets a tone for the rest of his teammates.
"I've learned from experience. Always even keel, series, games change fast. Things happen," he said. "I think for us it's just, get off to a really good start tomorrow. We won two games at home, they won two games at home. We had two opportunities to win two games there, didn't happen. Get back on pace."
While Harden has the most postseason experience to lean on, others have their fair share of postseasons scars at this point as well. Donovan Mitchell has made the playoffs nine consecutive years himself, but never advanced beyond the second round.
Players like Mobley and Allen, who also make up the core of the team, have been part of a four-year run to the playoffs alongside Mitchell. At this point, they too should be well-equipped to not let the outside pressure consume them this time of year.
In that span, Mobley believes he's picked up some coping mechanisms of his own to stay level headed.
"Not getting involved too much in the media. Anything outside we're of what we're talking about as a team," Mobley explained agter Game 2. "In the playoffs you just gotta focus on what the team is talking about, what the coach is talking about and keep everything in-house. It's not a time to really be distracted by the outside noise."
That won't be quite as easy to do on Wednesday night when the outside noise comes inside Rocket Arena. Mobley and company will hear every emotion the fan base is feeling throughout the 48 minutes.
Navigating that in real time becomes much more difficult than staying off your phone and turning off the hot take shows.
It alo figures to be the key to whether or not the Cavs can get this series back on track, or if they're on the brink of an offseason filled with questions and major changes.
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