For much of the Donovan Mitchell era, the Cleveland Cavaliers have fallen short of expectations in the postseason. One thing that has always been questioned about them has been their toughness.
Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen have taken the brunt of the criticism in that regard, with most of the basketball community calling Cleveland’s big man duo too soft for the postseason. Every time the Cavs lose a playoff game, those two are on the criticism frontlines and have their toughness questioned.
That has continued in this series with the Raptors. Cleveland went up 2-0, but Toronto came back and won two games at home, including an ugly 93-89 win in game four that ended up with the Cavs having their toughness questioned again. However, after winning game five, Cleveland showed what their real issue is.
The Cavs have had an execution issue in this series against the Raptors
While Toronto has been physical with their length on the wing, Cleveland has more than held their own in the paint. Mobley and Allen have done a good job of protecting the rim, especially Allen, who is third in the league in blocks during the playoffs.
The area where the Cavs have struggled is turnovers. James Harden has 21 turnovers over his last three games. To make matters worse, most of them have been live ball turnovers, which plays into the Raptors hands. This allows their transition game to get going, as they were one of the league’s best fastbreak teams this season.
That continued in the first half of game five, but the reason Cleveland came back in the second half is because they took care of the ball and were patient offensively. They only had five giveaways, including only one turnover in their huge fourth quarter.
While the Raptors did win the rebounding battle, the Cavs were able to limit them to one shot for most of the second half. Mobley and Allen were protecting the rim, Harden and Mitchell were helping to secure the defensive glass, and Cleveland was going down on the offensive end and executing.
When the Cavs are taking care of the ball, they are tough to beat. They have two dynamic scorers in Harden and Mitchell, the spacing in Strus, Sam Merrill, and Jaylon Tyson, and two versatile bigs.
This team doesn’t have a toughness issue. They have shown they can withstand playoff physicality. They just need to execute on a consistent basis and take care of the ball. Those are the two issues they need to fix.
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