20 Stats to explain Cavs 125-120 Game 5 win over Raptors

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers regained momentum in the series after gutting out a 125-120 victory in Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead over the Toronto Raptors.

The stats in the table below are taken from Cleaning the Glass. As a note, the percentiles are in comparison to other playoff games, which influences the sample size.

Now, let’s dive into the numbers.

• The Cavs took 39% of their shots at the rim (80th percentile). The offense stalled out in games 3 and 4. They failed to register over 105 points in both losses, largely due to an inability to get to the rim. Cleveland took just 26% of their shots in the restricted area in Game 3 (29th percentile) and 28% in Game 4 (34th percentile).

• Cleveland completed 76.9% of their shots at the rim (74th percentile). The willingness to get to the basket was coupled with the ability to finish there. Relentlessly attacking the basket caused the defense to shift, which opened up the rest of the offense.

• The Cavs knocked down 50% of their threes. That’s up considerably from the 31.1% they hit in Game 3 and the 25% they converted in Game 4. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Cavs are an inside-out team, not the other way around. When they’re getting to the basket and causing the defense to collapse, the ball gets kicked out for open catch-and-shoot threes. When they aren’t, they’re usually settling for stagnant pull-up jumpers. In general, if you’re ever wondering why the Cavs aren’t hitting their threes, it’s probably because they aren’t getting inside enough.

• Toronto destroyed the Cavs in transition, as they were in the 100th percentile in points added in the open court. Cleveland has mostly done a good job of keeping Toronto from getting out on the break. They didn’t in Game 5. Allowing a team to get out and run in transition comes down to many different factors, but the Cavs ineffectiveness on the offensive boards partially led to this. It’s much easier to get out and run off missed shots if you don’t have to crash the boards as hard as the Raptors needed to at times earlier in the series.

• The Cavaliers’ ability to control the paint made up for this, as Toronto converted just 58.6% of their shots at the rim (25th percentile).

• Toronto struggled against a set defense, as they registered a 90.9 half-court offensive rating (43rd percentile). When the Cavs kept the Raptors from running, the defense was good. When they didn’t, things got out of control as they did in the second quarter when the Raptors put up 40 points.

• The Raptors picked up 28 points off turnovers. This was the second-fewest turnovers the Cavs committed in a game this series, but the Raptors were still able to capitalize. This was most evident in the second quarter when Toronto converted six Cleveland miscues into 14 points heading the other way.

• Toronto still won the possession battle with 15 offensive rebounds. This led to 13 second-chance points and allowed the Raptors to take 14 more shots from the field. Head coach Kenny Atkinson has talked about how important the possession battle is in this series. The Cavs lost that handily and were still able to win.

• The Cavs held the Raptors to just 17 points in the fourth quarter. There are several reasons why this happened. Brandon Ingram leaving the game in the first half with a heel injury put more of the playmaking and scoring burden onto Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett. That caught up with both as Barnes had no points on 0-5 shooting while Barrett was held to just three points on 1-7 shooting in the fourth.

• Cleveland committed no turnovers in the fourth. This helped the Cavs’ defense immensely. The lack of turnovers helped limit the Raptors to just four fastbreak points in the quarter. When the Cavs keep possession, good things have happened this series.

• The Cavs played their best basketball with Sam Merrill on the court as they won his minutes by 19 points. Merrill’s off-ball gravity as a shooter changes the game. This led to the Cavs posting a 152.1 offensive rating when he was on the court.

• Of the 70 regular season game Mitchell played, the Cavs have only lost his minutes 21 times. They’re 5-16 in those contests, meaning they were 40-9 when the Cavs won Mitchell’s minutes. That trend has continued in the playoffs. This was the third-straight game Cleveland has lost Mitchell’s minutes. They’re now 1-2 in those situations.

• To further that point, this was the first game in this series that the Cavs won when Mitchell had scored fewer than 21 points. The Cavs have gone as Mitchell’s scoring has throughout the regular season. They were 7-11 when he played and failed to score over 20 points.

• Mitchell is still struggling to finish in the paint, as he went 4-10 there in Game 5. This included going 3-6 in the restricted area. This has been a trend all series. Mitchell is converting just 52% of his shots at the rim (18th percentile) after completing 66% of them (60th percentile) during the regular season.

• Dennis Schroder scored 19 points in Game 5, after compiling just 18 points in the first four games combined. To say this performance was unexpected based on recent form would be an understatement. Schroder only scored in double figures four times in the 24 regular-season and playoff games he’s played since the beginning of March, coming into this game. This was only the third time he’s scored 19 or more points since being traded to the Cavs.

• Evan Mobley’s 16 second-half points flipped the momentum of the game. This performance ties the fourth-most points he’s scored in a second half this season.

• Mobley’s three triples are one off his high for the season. This was also the first time he’s made all of his outside shots while taking more than one in a game this year.