INDEPENDENCE — The Toronto Raptors made their first major lineup adjustment of the series against the Cleveland Cavaliers when they decided to bench their typical starting center, Jakob Poeltl, for the entire second half in Game 2. Instead, they opted to go small with the 6’7” Collin Murray-Boyles and the 6’9” Sandro Mamukelashvili nominally playing the five.
After Game 2, Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković said that the idea behind going smaller was to provide a different look defensively. “We wanted to be able to switch more in the pick-and-roll.”
That idea made sense, but didn’t work out well for Toronto.
Instead of feasting on Poeltl in the pick-and-roll, the Cavs were able to attack and hunt out mismatches by forcing switches on screens. This was seen most clearly in how James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, and Evan Mobley all attacked Brandon Ingram whenever matched up against him. And without a center, there wasn’t additional help defense waiting to bail Ingram out.
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The numbers highlight this problem. Toronto has had an abysmal 128.1 defensive rating (0th percentile) in the 128 possessions they’ve played without Poeltl. The defense hasn’t been stellar with Poeltl, it’s been considerably better (117.7 defensive rating, 22nd percentile).
Despite Cleveland’s success, Jarrett Allen wasn’t able to take advantage of Toronto’s smaller front line. He registered just four points in the second half and wasn’t included in the team’s closing lineup despite being guarded by a much smaller RJ Barrett.
Despite not making an impact as a scorer, head coach Kenny Atkinson liked what he saw from Allen.
“These are the little sacrifices you have to make,” Atkinson said after practice on Wednesday. “Obviously, we got to reward him if they’re going to go small and get him down on the mismatches, but he sacrificed himself with screening.”
Allen did do a good job as a screener. He had a game-high six screen assists, leading to 16 points.
Atkinson said that he wants to keep Allen in the dunker’s spot against some of these smaller lineups. This would allow him to clean up missed shots and potentially finish lobs if the help defense steps up.
“I give him a 10-out-of-10 in terms of understanding that and then sacrificing for the squad,” Atkinson said. “After I watched the film, [I realized] this guy is way more impactful than even I think. His impact is monumental for the team.”
It’ll be interesting to see if the Cavs can get Allen more involved against these smaller lineups.
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Despite not helping Toronto’s defense, going smaller did jump-start the offense.
“[It] probably increases their transition offensive rate,” Atkinson said. “They’re going to double down on their speed.”
The smaller lineups have, in fact, done so.
Toronto is getting out in transition on 14.8% of their offensive possessions (93rd percentile) this series without Poeltl on the floor. That’s up from the 11.1% of possessions in transition (24th percentile) when he’s playing. This has all resulted in the offense being better in these smaller lineups.
“It makes them space the floor a little more and makes them play faster,” Max Strus said. “It’s a new thing that we’re gonna have to figure out, and I think we did some things to prepare for it today.”
The Cavs came into this series talking about needing to keep the Raptors from running in the open court. They’ve succeeded at that front in the first two games of the series, and will need to do so again if they want to steal a game in Toronto or potentially end the series there.
Going smaller hasn’t produced considerably better results for Toronto. They’re just 0.5 points per 100 possessions better with Poeltl off the court, and have registered a -12.5 net rating. That isn’t going to get it done.
Even though benching Poeltl may be the best move for the Raptors, it isn’t going to close the talent gap that we’ve seen through the first two games, at least not on its own. They need better performances from their best players — mainly Brandon Ingram — and hope that the Cavs’ stars cool off.
Despite how stress-free the first two games have been, the Cavs aren’t taking anything for granted as the series shifts north of the border.
“The series hasn’t even started yet until you go on the road,” Strus said. “So we got to come in with an aggressive mindset, just like we treated games one and two, and play our best basketball.”
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