The Toronto Raptors may be the most old-school team in the 2026 NBA playoffs. While they have stars in Scottie Barnes, Brandon Ingram, and RJ Barrett, they don’t have that tier-one superstar other teams have. Because of this, a lot of their identity is on the defensive end.
There was no better example of this than Game 4 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, when Toronto won a defensive slugfest to even the series at 2-2. It was a throwback Eastern Conference-style postseason battle, with Toronto not only showing defensive consistency throughout the game, but taking that to another level in the possessions that mattered most down the stretch.
This was on full display when Jamal Shead came up with arguably the defensive play of the series to this point, poking the ball away from Donovan Mitchell and forcing an eight-second violation on a critical possession. Speaking with reporters about that play after the game, Shead talked about how his time in college taught him that diving on the floor is a non-negotiable.
“That's something that was engrained in me in 4 years there,” he said of his time in college. “Diving on the floor is not negotiable at the University of Houston”
While Shead had missed all five of his three-point attempts in Game 4, he led the team in plus-minus, and that defensive play was a great example why. These are the types of players Toronto has and has been leaning on throughout the entire NBA season. It’s a different style than the Cavaliers, who also have defensive talent but rely more on their offensively minded backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and James Harden to win them games.
That duo was completely shut down in Game 4, which is something the Raptors will have to replicate again in Game 5 on Wednesday to take a 3–2 lead and move one win away from the Eastern Conference semifinals.
It’s often said that a playoff series does not start until a team wins on the road, and that has yet to happen in this Cavs-Raptors series. Toronto is looking to change that in Cleveland on Wednesday after taking Games 3 and 4 at home. It will likely require a better offensive showing than Game 4, as Cleveland is likely to have more juice on that end at home, but the defense has to remain elite as it did in Toronto for that momentum to carry into Cleveland.