{"id":321472,"date":"2026-04-20T03:07:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T21:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=321472"},"modified":"2026-04-20T03:07:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T21:37:38","slug":"film-school-raptors-do-deep-dive-on-game-1-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/20\/film-school-raptors-do-deep-dive-on-game-1-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Film School: Raptors do deep dive on Game 1 loss"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>CLEVELAND \u2013 As soon as the ultimate whistle sounded in a disappointing Game 1 loss, Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic and his staff set to work.<\/p>\n<p>Rajakovic, his coaches, and all of the Raptors players watched, rewatched and analyzed what went incorrect in Toronto\u2019s 126-113 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers within the opening game of their first-round playoff series on Saturday afternoon. They then got right down to working on the long list of things that have to be fixed before Game 2 on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had long conversations last night, this morning, about what (the) potential adjustments have to be,\u201d said Rajakovic before practice began at Rocket Arena in Cleveland. \u201cWhat do we want to scrub up? What do we want to do higher?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere may be quite a lot of those things. That\u2019s very, very exciting, because there may be quite a lot of room for us to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Starting centre Jakob Poeltl, who scored just 4 points and had six rebounds within the loss, welcomed the round of constructive criticism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel at the top of the day, we all know a playoff series needs some changes, needs some adjustments. It\u2019s only one game,\u201d he said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t play our greatest basketball, prefer it\u2019s not even nearly X\u2019s and O\u2019s.<\/p>\n<div class=\"l-article__part\" data-shortcode=\"related_videos\">\n<div class=\"l-inlineStories l-inlineStories--video\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"l-inlineStories__title\">Related Videos<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<section id=\"miniplayer-carousel\" class=\"l-videoCarousel l-videoCarousel--embed c-carousel\" data-video-carousel-play-inline=\"true\" data-video-carousel-init=\"false\" aria-label=\"Video carousel contains 10 videos.\">\n<div class=\"l-videoCarousel__inner\">\n<div class=\"l-videoCarousel__featured\">\n<div class=\"c-video c-videoPlay \" data-iframe-receiver=\"\" data-autoplay=\"\" data-displayinline-featured=\"true\" data-displayinline-type=\"video\" data-displayinline-player-id=\"miniplayer\" data-displayinline-video-id=\"11806034\" data-displayinline-ratio=\"16:9\" data-displayinline=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/video\/embed\/playlist\/11806034,11736470,11520120,11519608,11499192,11272226,11267415,11265148,11264380,11194605\/?poster=https%3A%2F%2Fi1.wp.com%2Fmedia.globalnews.ca%2Fvideostatic%2Fnews%2Fb2wkul1jpo-ylkk0xdczi%2FGNMNHLANDNBAPLAYOFFSSTILL.jpg%3Fw%3D1200%26quality%3D70%26strip%3Dall#autoplay&#038;stickyiframe=miniplayer\" data-displayinline-playlist=\"11806034,11736470,11520120,11519608,11499192,11272226,11267415,11265148,11264380,11194605\" data-displayinline-sticky=\"true\" data-permutive-data='{\"content\":{\"name\":\"NHL, NBA playoffs kick-off this weekend\",\"type\":\"video\",\"sections\":[\"videos\",\"toronto\",\"sports\"],\"keywords\":[\"global-news-morning\",\"montreal-canadiens\",\"playoffs\",\"short-clip\",\"toronto-raptors\",\"global-news-morning-toronto\"],\"iab\":{\"categories\":[\"Sports\/Team Sports\/Basketball\",\"Sports\",\"Sports\/Team Sports\"],\"tags\":[\"Ball\",\"Basketball\",\"Brandon Ingram\",\"Cleveland\",\"Cleveland Cavaliers\",\"Darko Rajakoviu0107\",\"Donovan Mitchell\",\"Hamstring\",\"Immanuel Quickley\",\"Jakob Pu00f6ltl\",\"Jamal Shead\",\"James Harden\",\"Jarrett Allen\",\"National Basketball Association\",\"NBA playoffs\",\"Point guard\",\"Points per game\",\"Puzzle\",\"Rebound (basketball)\",\"Rocket Arena\",\"Scottie Barnes\",\"Toronto\",\"Toronto Raptors\"]}}}'>\n<div class=\"c-video__inner \">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__placeholder\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'NHL, NBA playoffs kick-off this weekend'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/media.globalnews.ca\/videostatic\/news\/b2wkul1jpo-ylkk0xdczi\/GNMNHLANDNBAPLAYOFFSSTILL.jpg?w=1040&#038;quality=70&#038;strip=all\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"\" sizes=\"auto, \" data-sizes=\"(min-width: 1040px) 1040px,(min-width: 720px) 720px,450px\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__overlay\"><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<time class=\"c-video__duration\">4:55<\/time><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__title\">NHL, NBA playoffs kick-off this weekend<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"l-videoCarousel__glide glide \">\n<div class=\"glide__arrows c-carousel__buttons l-videoCarousel__buttons\" data-glide-el=\"controls\">\n\t<button class=\"glide__arrow glide__arrow--left c-carousel__button c-carousel__prev l-videoCarousel__button l-videoCarousel__prev c-longform-gallery__prev\" data-glide-dir=\"<\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<span class=\"sr-only\">Previous Video<\/span><br \/>\n\t<\/button><br \/>\n\t<button class=\"glide__arrow glide__arrow--right c-carousel__button c-carousel__next l-videoCarousel__button l-videoCarousel__next c-longform-gallery__next\" data-glide-dir=\">&#8220;><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<span class=\"sr-only\">Next Video<\/span><br \/>\n\t<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t<button class=\"c-carousel__goto\" data-glide-dir=\"=0\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><\/button>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t<!-- video stream item --><\/p>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt wasn\u2019t our effort that we\u2019ve shown within the regular season, like we didn\u2019t have that very same determination.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup\" data-newsletter-inline=\"\">\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup__image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/wp-content\/themes\/shaw-globalnews\/images\/skyline\/national.jpg\" alt=\"Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you'll never miss the day's top stories.\">\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup__content\">\n<h2 class=\"c-inlineSignup__title\">Get each day National news<\/h2>\n<p>Get each day Canada news delivered to your inbox so you may never miss the day&#8217;s top stories.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It was an extended list of issues that may have to be fixed if the Raptors are going to tie the best-of-seven series, but Rajakovic and his players were focused on three foremost points.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 All-star forward Brandon Ingram has to stand up more shots after he managed only nine field-goal attempts on Saturday, including only one within the second half.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u2013 They should tighten up on defence, especially against Cleveland guards Donovan Mitchell and James Harden.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Kick-start Toronto\u2019s NBA-best transition offence that averaged 18.9 points per game within the regular season but were limited to simply three within the loss.<\/p>\n<p>Ingram said that the film sessions helped quite a bit and that it is necessary to keep in mind that it was only one game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe needed to see what their game plan was coming out of the primary game, how they were going to attack us, what they were going to do on the defensive side to slow us down,\u201d said Ingram, noting he enjoys solving the puzzle of one other team\u2019s defence. \u201cI feel we\u2019ve got those answers now, so we will have a look at them and see how we will recover in practice and refocus and take a look at to recover tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Point guard Jamal Shead, a defensive specialist who made his NBA playoff debut on Saturday, said that the Raptors weren\u2019t themselves in the primary game. Toronto had the NBA\u2019s fifth-best defensive rating within the regular season (113.25).<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-tabs\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t<button role=\"tab\" class=\"c-tabs__tab c-tabs__tab--active\" type=\"button\">More on Sports<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t\t<button role=\"tab\" class=\"c-tabs__tab\" type=\"button\">More videos<\/button>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think we tried quite a lot of coverages. I feel that was quite a lot of failures, you realize?\u201d said Shead. \u201cI feel we were in quite a lot of places that we weren\u2019t speculated to be, and that was on us, that wasn\u2019t on coach, that wasn\u2019t on our game plan.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe just weren\u2019t executing defensively like we must always have been, and that\u2019s on us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A part of that defensive lapse was a scarcity of rebounding.<\/p>\n<p>Although the Cavaliers got 33 boards to the Raptors\u2019 27 \u2014 not an amazing differential \u2014 Scottie Barnes, Toronto\u2019s best rebounder within the regular season, only got one. He averaged 7.5 over 80 games.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur transition offence is actually good when (Barnes) rebounds the ball, when he\u2019s pushing the ball,\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to simply be certain that (Barnes) gets himself involved in rebounding together along with his teammates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe didn&#8217;t do a great job of rebounding the ball and running. We\u2019ve got to recover in that aspect, needless to say.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rajakovic still had no update on point guard Immanuel Quickley.<\/p>\n<p>Toronto\u2019s go-to starter missed Game 1 with a gentle strain of his right hamstring. Quickley averaged 16.4 points and a team-best 5.9 assists over 70 games this past season.<\/p>\n<p>This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2026.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n\t\t&#038;copy 2026 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CLEVELAND \u2013 As soon as the ultimate whistle sounded in a disappointing Game 1 loss, Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic and his staff set to work. Rajakovic, his coaches, and all of the Raptors players watched, rewatched and analyzed what went incorrect in Toronto\u2019s 126-113 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers within the opening game [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":321473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[992,3957,2184,585,670,3491,1683],"class_list":["post-321472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-deep","tag-dive","tag-film","tag-game","tag-loss","tag-raptors","tag-school"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321472"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":321475,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321472\/revisions\/321475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}