Raptors must play hard versus Cavaliers forwards - BERITAJA

TORONTO – Being complete six-foot-seven would beryllium considered gangly successful about walks of life, but successful the NBA, that makes you an undersized forward.

That will beryllium Toronto Raptors’ situation successful their first-round playoff bid against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Although seven-foot Jakob Poeltl, six-foot-nine Sandro Mamukelashvili and six-foot-seven Collin Murray-Boyles aren’t short by anyone’s definition, they’ll beryllium tangling pinch Cleveland’s frontcourt of six-foot-nine Jarrett Allen and six-foot-11 Evan Mobley. Murray-Boyles, who has impressed astatine centre successful his rookie play for Toronto, said he couldn’t emulate the crippled of Mobley, past season’s Defensive Player of the Year, moreover if he wanted to.

“I don’t cognize if I could study that. He’s sewage a mates inches connected me,” joked Murray-Boyles connected Thursday. “I’ve watched about of his movie and he’s conscionable blocking shots and mucking it up successful the paint.”

The Raptors had the NBA’s fifth-best protect standing successful the regular play (113.25) which helped them gain the Eastern Conference’s No. 5 seed. Smart protect switches and the versatility of all-star swingman Scottie Barnes, helped them flooded taller opponents.

Making switches astatine an elite level will beryllium needed against Mobley, Allen and guards Donovan Mitchell and James Harden.

“They’re a really, really bully squad and person a batch of bully pieces,” said Murray-Boyles. “It’s going to beryllium a really bully situation for maine and the squad arsenic a whole. The matchup is beautiful bully arsenic we person Scott guarding their guards.

“They person a really bully backcourt, a really bully frontcourt, really don’t person galore weaknesses.”

Cleveland is almost the other of Toronto, pinch the sixth-best violative standing (119.26) successful the convention which helped transportation the squad to No. 4 successful the East. The Raptors hit Cleveland successful each 3 of their regular-season matchups, but they each came earlier the Cavaliers traded for Harden, a surefire Hall of Famer who is averaging 23.6 points per crippled successful 70 contests divided betwixt Cleveland and the Los Angeles Clippers.

“We ended the play being the fifth-best defence successful the league, and that’s without having seven-foot thing players protecting and changing shots astatine the rim,” said Raptors caput coach Darko Rajakovic. “Everything for our defence starts pinch really good we defender the shot and really good we enactment successful beforehand of the ball.

“It’s not conscionable needfully pressuring the afloat tribunal and trying to make them perpetrate turnovers. It’s really making the bosom of them being beingness pinch them, slow them down. I deliberation we’ve sewage to do that.”

Mamukelashvili was 1 of only 5 reserves successful the full NBA that scored complete 600 points and pulled down complete 300 rebounds. He thinks it would beryllium a correction to get distant from the strategies that helped Toronto suffice for the playoffs for the first clip successful 4 years.

“If you make the playoffs and you move up your full routine, like, what sewage you done 82 games?” he said aft believe astatine Toronto’s OVO Athletic Centre. “There were immoderate reliable games, must-win games.

“I consciousness for illustration now the only point you person to do is show sleep, make judge you get your rest. But everything other is the same. I aftermath up, I locomotion my dogs, travel present and watch the film, past locomotion my dogs again.”

Both Murray-Boyles and Mamukelashvili said they’ll person to beryllium much beingness to slow down the Cavaliers.

“Get up successful peoples’ grills, but, also, I person to beryllium smart,” said Murray-Boyles. “This will beryllium a really large situation for maine to enactment retired of foul problem and really fastener into unit and fastener into what I request to do truthful I could beryllium effective successful the game.”

Mamukelashvili said each possession will matter.

“It’s not the champion player, but the champion squad that wins, and whoever plays harder and whoever wants it more,” said Mamukelashvili. “Also pinch playoff hoops you could ne'er underestimate anybody, but besides you cannot beryllium frightened of anybody.

“You’ve conscionable sewage to travel retired location and conscionable play hard.”

This study by BERITAJA was first published April 16, 2026.