10 Takeaways from Cavs Game 4 loss to Raptors: Can Donovan Mitchell lead Cavaliers where they want to go?

Anything bought from the links helps support *Fear the Sword*. You can also shop all of Homage’s Cavs gear HERE. The link to the 2016 championship shirt HERE. **Harden continues to struggle with the Raptors’ length**. After carving them up through the first two games of the series, he’s registered more turnovers than field goals in both contests in Toronto. This included coughing it up seven times on a day the Cavs couldn’t get anything going toward the basket. The Cavs have become a one-dimensional jump shooting team during their worst playoff failures in the last four years. Harden was supposed to help that by getting downhill and force-feeding Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. That hasn’t happened. **The pick-and-roll game has completely dried up**. Toronto simply switching that action has kept the Cavs from even trying to get downhill. Instead, they’re using guards to screen to create open three-point looks. That’s fine as a counter, but it can’t be used as a substitute altogether. The Raptors’ defense looks impenetrable because they’ve never had to collapse. Rotating out to a shooter on the perimeter isn’t the same as scrambling inside. The Cavs should have talented enough offensive weapons to create and exploit mismatches. At the very least, they did in the first two games of the series. **Jarrett Allen needs to be better**. I asked head coach Kenny Atkinson if they need to do a better job of getting Allen involved when he has RJ Barrett matched up with him before Game 3. Atkinson said they did, but he also pointed to there being other ways to be impactful against a mismatch. This includes being used in the dunker’s spot to clean up misses or finish lobs. Theoretically, those would be a good way to use Allen. It just hasn’t happened in a meaningful way. In the last two games, the Raptors haven’t been punished in any meaningful way by putting a smaller player on Allen. The Cavs generated second-chance opportunities, and Allen did record six offensive rebounds in Game 4, but that hasn’t moved the needle. In February, Allen was aggressive in punishing smaller defenders whenever he got an opportunity to do so. That simply isn’t happening anymore, even when he gets a 6’1” guard matched up against him. You can’t take away everything from your opponent in the postseason. You have to make concessions and dare certain players to beat you if it means you can better defend something else. The Raptors are conceding mismatches to Allen whenever he wants them. However, neither the Cavs nor Allen has any interest in taking advantage of it. With seemingly every button the Raptors have pressed, they’re both having their cake and eating it too. **Scottie Barnes is running circles around Evan Mobley**. There’s no doubt as to who the best player in the series has been on both sides of the ball — let alone in this rivalry from the 2022 Rookie of the Year race. Barnes has showcased a versatility as a scorer, defender, rebounder, and passer that has made him far and away the most valuable player on either team. Having an incredibly high motor helps as well. That all stands in stark contrast with Mobley, who still needs the perfect environment to be his most impactful self. Mobley was phenomenal in Game 2. He was punishing mismatches and doing a great job of being a distributor whenever the defense rotated over to help. That effectiveness has waned. The Raptors have been better at sending late help at Mobley and walling him off before getting too deep into the post. This has thrown off Mobley’s timing and made him only effective at really going after Jakob Poeltl. As is a theme with the Cavs, the lack of versatility from Mobley has limited his effectiveness. When his best skill is taken away by his opponent, he doesn’t have enough counters to turn to. Barnes, on the other hand, can seemingly do whatever he wants. No matter who the Cavs put on him, he’s getting to his spot on the floor. And once there, he has the skills to hurt them with the shot, pass, or getting to the rim. That versatility shows up on the defensive end as well. Barnes’s ability to shut down actions from both guards and bigs has disrupted Cleveland’s entire flow. **Cleveland isn’t matching Toronto’s toughness either physically or mentally**. Physically, Toronto pushed Cleveland’s bigs and guards off their spots. They forced Mitchell and Harden into being outside shooters and limited Allen and Mobley to a combined 11 points on 16 shots. This allowed them to control the glass, the paint, and more importantly, the tempo of the game. Mentally, the Raptors never let up. They were focused throughout the full 48 minutes on what they needed to do. Mental errors didn’t happen. And when things got tough, they dug down even deeper. Basketball isn’t always won in the trenches, but it can certainly be lost there, as the Cavs have shown in previous postseason runs and did again in Game 4. **They’ve provided no reasons to believe in this team**. The Cavs may still win the series and could be expected to do so with two of the possible three games at home. But we’ve seen this movie too many times before to believe that’s guaranteed. They don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt now, or frankly, any time in the future as long as this core group is together. They’ve continually shrunk in the biggest moments, with their best players failing to rise to the occasion when they need them to. Game 4 was just another entry in a long line of disappointments. It’s on the Cavs to change the narrative. And if Sunday afternoon was any indication of things, they don’t seem willing enough to put in the effort to actually do so.