The Cleveland Cavaliers, being a veteran team led by players with plenty of playoff experience, had to have known that the Toronto Raptors were going to be bringing their A-game on Thursday as they stared at the prospect of going down 3-0 in the series. And the Raptors did play with the desperation that comes with seeing their season be in danger, as they earned a 126-104 victory over the Cavs to cut the series deficit to 2-1.
In the fourth quarter, the Raptors flipped a switch and blitzed the Cavs; they scored 43 points in the fourth, with Jamison Battle’s three-pointers proving to be one dagger after another to keep Cleveland at bay.
But at the end of the day, the Cavs know that they were simply punched in the mouth by the team that played with more “force” — with Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Kenny Atkinson all being in agreement.
“I just don’t think our force. We weren’t forceful enough with it. … Our force of coming off of it was really the issue,” Mitchell said in his postgame presser, via Real Cavs Fans on X (formerly Twitter).
Mobley, as the team’s defensive anchor, reflected on the fact that the Cavs simply weren’t able to match the level of “force” the Raptors played with, especially on offense.
“Just our force. We gotta meet ’em early, not let them get into our paint as easy. They switched up some of their offense, some of their plays on how they were attacking. I think we just gotta be more active, more detail oriented,” Mobley added.
For the Cavs head coach, he thought that the Raptors were simply forceful in asserting their will into the game, which definitely speaks to the level of desperation they must have been feeling.
“They imposed their will though,” Atkinson said. “The force was just way on their side — the ability to be the more aggressive team.”
Game 4 of the Cavs-Raptors series will be on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 PM E.T., as Cleveland looks to take a commanding 3-1 series lead.