TORONTO – Success within the NBA playoffs is all about adjustments. Who could make the mandatory tweaks to adapt their game to what the series demands?
For renowned napper Brandon Ingram, meaning moving up his bedtime.
“Attempting to get within the bed earlier today,” said Ingram after practice at Toronto’s OVO Athletic Centre. “My girl’s around so she’ll get on my nerves enough where I just want to fall asleep.”
Turning in early might be a necessity for Ingram — and anyone else on the Raptors who likes to nap — as Toronto hosts the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 of their opening round series at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday. Cleveland leads the best-of-seven matchup 2-1.
Starting centre Jakob Poeltl isn’t sure if the unusually early tipoff will help or hinder either team.
“It would, it may not, but it surely’s the identical for each teams,” he said. “I don’t think it really matters. Now we have early games throughout the season now and again, so everybody should know what it appears like. I feel we’re nice.
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“It sort of changes the routine, obviously, because all day just sort of changes, but you continue to attempt to do the identical things before the sport.”
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Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said he scheduled Saturday’s off-day practice to line up with Sunday’s start time to helps his players create a rhythm for the weekend.
“We’re giving guys 24 hours to prepare until tomorrow,” said Rajakovic. “We’ve got to deal with things that we’re controlling.
“Those are our defensive, offensive fundamentals, our culture. That’s the predominant focus of it. There shouldn’t be much you possibly can do regarding your body clock.”
Toronto looked flat in back-to-back losses to start out the series in Cleveland but routed the Cavaliers 126-104 in Game 3 on Thursday. Ingram said it was because everyone was more aggressive on defence.
“They didn’t make as many shots. We tried to decelerate (all-star guards) Donovan Mitchell and (James) Harden somewhat bit more,” said Ingram. “I feel Harden still got some shots that he wanted, after all, but we just tried to limit Donovan Mitchell’s touches in that game and just make them take tough shots.
“Guys just stepped up. We wanted everybody, and everybody was there.”
The Raptors announced on Friday that Immanuel Quickley would miss the remainder of the team’s first-round series. Quickley had missed the primary three games against Cleveland with a right hamstring strain.
He had been progressing through escalating tests but aggravated the injury on Thursday when doing the most recent round of tests.
Poeltl, who was an efficient pick-and-roll partner with Quickley within the regular season, said Toronto wants the purpose guard back as soon as possible.
“He’s been somewhat of a staple, no less than with me, on the court, for me to play off of,” sad Poeltl. ” quick. But now we just got to take advantage of what now we have. Like I said earlier, now we have a deep team. Now we have a number of team, a number of guys that may are available in and have an effect on this team. So we just got to go to the subsequent option.
Quickley averaged 16.4 points and 5.9 assists in 70 starts this season. He had missed all of Toronto’s playoff games, including Toronto’s 126-104 Game 3 win, before he was officially ruled out for the remainder of the series.
Second-year guard Ja’Kobe Walter began in Quickley’s place for Game 3. Jamal Shead had been within the lineup for the primary two games of the series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2026.
© 2026 The Canadian Press