Toronto Raptors Emphasize Need of Aggression from Brandon Ingram After Game 1 Loss

Brandon Ingram and the Toronto Raptors suffered a 126-113 loss in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals to the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena. Toronto’s regular-season leading scorer scored just 17 points in the opening game of the playoffs and had just nine field goal attempts, the fourth-most on his team. 

While scoring 113 points may seem like a decent performance for the Raptors, 45 total points in the second and third quarters combined says otherwise. Not to mention, the Raptors suffered a 21-point differential entering the final period, so the 37 points scored in the fourth quarter are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. 

Ingram was being hounded on the offensive end; Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson discussed his game plan of limiting the two-time All-Star rather than trying to stop him completely. They limited his ability to catch the ball and shut down actions for him before they even started, and when he did go into an isolation feature, they either doubled him or forced him to take a highly contested shot. 

It’s worth noting that Atkinson’s plan came to fruition exactly; Ingram played well considering the lack of total attempts. He shot 5-for-9 from the field and had 10 free throw attempts, so he was able to make the most of his opportunities when they came. The Cavaliers are not one of the better defenses in the NBA, so Ingram shouldn’t struggle against them more than any other team, but they succeeded in forcing him to give the ball up more than he would’ve liked. 

Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic acknowledged the lack of attempts for their offensive-minded star player and discussed what will need to happen to find success in Game 2. 

“I think [the Cavaliers] were really focused, their schemes, what they were doing against Brandon,” said Rajakovic. “I think we got to do a good job of balancing out, to find Brandon more, to get some better screens to free him up. And I think sometimes when he’s overplayed, where he’s not able to catch the ball, setting some screens, freeing up his teammates is good for us. We got to definitely do a better job of finding Brandon more, and he needs to be more engaged. We have a couple of solutions for that, how we’re going to fight that.”

Getting the former Duke Blue Devil should absolutely be a priority going into Game 2, but the bigger problem may come from the defensive end. The Raptors have proven this season to be one of the best defensive teams in the league, blitzing teams with their aggressiveness and physicality. Against 11-time All-Star James Harden and seven-time All-Star Donovan Mitchell, however, there was seemingly nothing that worked. Mitchell was able to score at will, as he has done most of his playoff career, and Harden was able to facilitate in a way to get whatever look he wanted. 

If the Raptors want to have a chance at evening the series going back home to Toronto, they need to be quick to forcing Harden to make a decision. His ability to match-up hunt and make the right read is one of the greatest of all time, so if the Raptors can force him to get rid of the ball earlier than he would like, they will give themselves a chance at forcing a contest shot or delaying the action. As for Mitchell, he isn’t nearly the playmaker that Harden is, so the solution may be to guard him the same way the Cavaliers are guarding Ingram.