The Definitive Raptors vs Cavs Playoff Preview
Samson Folk & Louis Zatzman preview the upcoming playoff series between the Raptors & the Cavaliers.
0:00 – Intro for Raps vs Cavs
2:00 – Slow vs Fast
5:35 – Knicks vs Cavs
5:57 – Quickley is day to day
6:45 – The battle for the paint
9:46 – The James Harden of it all
15:50 – Scottie should guard Mobley
17:00 Film breakdown
25:15 – Who do the backcourts guard?
33:40 – Huge series for Ingram & Scottie
53:00 – How does RJ Barrett factor in?
59:45 – Great listener question
1:02:38 – The Raptors are up against it
1:05:30 – Goodbye Louis
1:06:50 – Samson wanted the New York matchup
1:07:25 – Ad read
1:08:50 – Immanuel Quickley is a huge swing
1:10:05 – Jamal Shead playoff performer?
1:12:44 – CMB could shine
1:18:50 – Battle of tempo, again
1:20:45 – Ad read
1:22:05 – Saskatchewan politics
1:23:20 – Can Battle get run?
1:25:15 – Programming notes
#torontoraptors #scottiebarnes #brandoningram
10 Comments
You guys might as well go support Cavs…you guys cover raptors?
These dudes is actually looking at tape from October and November they must don't know the Cavs have Max back
so excited for this series boys! its a pretty good matchup for the raptors i think, im just worried about the cavs cutting us to death if they can isolate mamu or rj or some of our weaker defenders. no matter the result, im looking at 3 things:
1. Does scottie have a new playoff level he can reach?
2. Will Jakobe or CMB reveal themselves to be a playoff performer?
3. Does Darko make adjustments if cavs find success early?
not to call out youtube commenters, but on Es' video one of the top comments suggested we use TJD for some rebounding, which is just such wishful thinking, i always assume the top comment is also lowest common denominator ball takes, TJD hasnt played significant minutes and people wanna see him in a PLAYOFF SERIES WTHelly???? Much love boys cant wait for more preview content ❤️
Knowing Harden and how physical Toronto will be with him. He’ll be injured and out in game 2 and end up being day to day and that’s when raptors have to take advantage
I’m a Cavs fan here and this is incredible analysis. It’s incredibly in-depth especially about the starter matchups.
Instead of talking about just how wonderful it is, I’ll try to add my analysis. I think the starting lineup for the Cavs will certainly be Harden-Mitchell-Dean Wade-Mobley-Allen. You did an excellent job explaining how Harden creates the offensive system that’s so hard to stop( which is a big reason why talk about Harden choking misses the problem entirely) but I totally buy that despite all of the massive difficulties defending this offense, that the Raptors can have a fairly strong defensive performance.
I disagree that Scottie Barnes is the better defender( Mobley’s scheme versatility while being an A+ rim protector is quite generational) but sure, in this series I think Scottie Barnes will have a bigger defensive impact. Largely because of Scottie Barnes’ offense and just how good he is exploiting drives to set up offense.
The reason I don’t consider this a very close series is specifically because of Cleveland’s bench being so good. Keon Ellis is a great player and a player that generates massive amounts of stocks and shrinks the floor with his closeouts. Sam Merrill is a shooter than can pass, dribble and drive, he’s the 5th most impactful Cavalier and I think both will be unlocked in this series.
The fundamental problem I have with the Raptors pushing this series far is that it’s asking too much of Scottie Barnes. Without him on the court I suspect the Raptors will suffer a lot on offense. Or you suffer a ton on defense by trying anything funky, none of which have inherent advantages like spacing out Allen/Mobley or freeing up Ingram to attack. You can replace him with CMB to solve the defensive issues but at the expense of the offense. CMB+Barnes lineups will let Jarrett Allen dominate defensively too much for the Raptors’ offense to be viable.
So you end up with the problem all under talented teams face( E.g Nuggets vs Wolves this season) where you have ways to hold on with the starting lineup with your best basketball being played but I definitely trust the Cavs to win the non-Barnes minutes or the bench minutes.
Usually, there are some series like the ‘24 version of Wolves vs Nuggets where if you can impose your style, you have avenues to grind out a win. But in a slugfest, I think the Cavs’ role players are just as good as the ‘25 Cavs team that was toe-to-toe with Boston and could grind the Raptors’ offense to a halt( Keon Ellis) or keep the offense afloat with the free points off cuts.
Because of this, I think this series ends in 5 and could very well be a sweep. It’s seriously not a knock on the Raptors at all. But this is one of the more talented teams top to bottom of past decade and I simply don’t think the Raptors can play to Cleveland’s weaknesses well outside of Scottie Barnes having Mobley guard him while Ingram gets guarded by Dean Wade.
Again, I don’t think this is a problem with the Raptors per se, the Cavs have done similar things to Giannis and the Bucks even with Dame even in 2024 before the emergence of the bench being one of the best in the league. In fact, I think the Pistons might fare worse than the Raptors in their series against the Cavs because unlike Scottie who demands Mobley guard him( muting Mobley’s impact as a help defender), Cade has to suffer against the full force of Mobley and Allen defending the paint.
I can explain the X’s and O’s if you want to but it’s a YouTube comment so I’m wasn’t about to do a full YouTube vid worth of analysis
Don't think jakob can start vs harden led offense. CmB is probably a better option to start. And if quickley is out, they should roll with walter too, then let scottie run point against their bigs.
put some respect on stuart mclean smh
I think it's valid to celebrate finishing 5th instead of 6th, regardless of playoff implications.
Stuart mclean
I’m sorry but I need to say shits weak. Blah blah blah analytics this and that… we’re in the playoffs where anything can happen and we’ve shown we can play with these guys all be it missing some guys we can win this series. And y’all don’t sound like raptor fans… even if the team is better than us it’s always raps in 7. Weak