{"id":324744,"date":"2026-04-26T09:29:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T03:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=324744"},"modified":"2026-04-26T09:29:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T03:59:04","slug":"lights-out-raptors-adjusting-to-early-start-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/26\/lights-out-raptors-adjusting-to-early-start-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Lights Out: Raptors adjusting to early start time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>TORONTO \u2013 Success within the NBA playoffs is all about adjustments. Who could make the mandatory tweaks to adapt their game to what the series demands?<\/p>\n<p>For renowned napper Brandon Ingram, meaning moving up his bedtime.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAttempting to get within the bed earlier today,\u201d said Ingram after practice at Toronto\u2019s OVO Athletic Centre. \u201cMy girl\u2019s around so she\u2019ll get on my nerves enough where I just want to fall asleep.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Turning in early might be a necessity for Ingram \u2014 and anyone else on the Raptors who likes to nap \u2014 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.<\/p>\n<p>Starting centre Jakob Poeltl isn\u2019t sure if the unusually early tipoff will help or hinder either team.<\/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>\u201cIt would, it may not, but it surely\u2019s the identical for each teams,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t 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\u2019re nice.<\/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=\"11811263\" data-displayinline-ratio=\"16:9\" data-displayinline=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/video\/embed\/playlist\/11811263,11806034,11736470,11520120,11519608,11499192,11272226,11267415,11265148,11264380\/?poster=https%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fmedia.globalnews.ca%2Fvideostatic%2Fnews%2Fc81zdt175v-wa86ob7xwu%2FRAPTORSGAME2LEXYSTILL.jpg%3Fw%3D1200%26quality%3D70%26strip%3Dall#autoplay&#038;stickyiframe=miniplayer\" data-displayinline-playlist=\"11811263,11806034,11736470,11520120,11519608,11499192,11272226,11267415,11265148,11264380\" data-displayinline-sticky=\"true\" data-permutive-data='{\"content\":{\"name\":\"Raptors fans at Jurassic Park react to Game 2 loss against Cavaliers\",\"type\":\"video\",\"sections\":[\"videos\",\"toronto\",\"sports\",\"trending\"],\"keywords\":[\"cleveland-cavaliers\",\"global-news\",\"jurassic-park\",\"nba-playoffs\",\"scotiabank-arena\",\"short-clip\",\"toronto-raptors\"],\"iab\":{\"categories\":[\"Sports\/Team Sports\/Basketball\",\"News\",\"Sports\",\"News\/Sports News\",\"Sports\/Team Sports\"],\"tags\":[\"Basketball\",\"Brandon Ingram\",\"Circadian rhythm\",\"Cleveland\",\"Cleveland Cavaliers\",\"Clock\",\"Darko Rajakoviu0107\",\"Donovan Mitchell\",\"Hamstring\",\"Immanuel Quickley\",\"Jakob Pu00f6ltl\",\"Jamal Shead\",\"Jarrett Allen\",\"NBA playoffs\",\"OVO Athletic Centre\",\"Pick and roll\",\"Playoffs\",\"Point guard\",\"Pulled hamstring\",\"Sleep\",\"The Canadian Press\",\"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: 'Raptors fans at Jurassic Park react to Game 2 loss against Cavaliers'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.globalnews.ca\/videostatic\/news\/c81zdt175v-wa86ob7xwu\/RAPTORSGAME2LEXYSTILL.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\">1:38<\/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\">Raptors fans at Jurassic Park react to Game 2 loss against Cavaliers<\/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 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.\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>Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said he scheduled Saturday\u2019s off-day practice to line up with Sunday\u2019s start time to helps his players create a rhythm for the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re giving guys 24 hours to prepare until tomorrow,\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to deal with things that we\u2019re controlling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose are our defensive, offensive fundamentals, our culture. That\u2019s the predominant focus of it. There shouldn&#8217;t be much you possibly can do regarding your body clock.\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>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey didn\u2019t make as many shots. We tried to decelerate (all-star guards) Donovan Mitchell and (James) Harden somewhat bit more,\u201d said Ingram. \u201cI feel Harden still got some shots that he wanted, after all, but we just tried to limit Donovan Mitchell\u2019s touches in that game and just make them take tough shots.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGuys just stepped up. We wanted everybody, and everybody was there.\u201d<\/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>The Raptors announced on Friday that Immanuel Quickley would miss the remainder of the team\u2019s first-round series. Quickley had missed the primary three games against Cleveland with a right hamstring strain.<\/p>\n<p>He had been progressing through escalating tests but aggravated the injury on Thursday when doing the most recent round of tests.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s been somewhat of a staple, no less than with me, on the court, for me to play off of,\u201d sad Poeltl. \u201d 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.<\/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>Quickley averaged 16.4 points and 5.9 assists in 70 starts this season. He had missed all of Toronto\u2019s playoff games, including Toronto\u2019s 126-104 Game 3 win, before he was officially ruled out for the remainder of the series.<\/p>\n<p>Second-year guard Ja\u2019Kobe Walter began in Quickley\u2019s place for Game 3. Jamal Shead had been within the lineup for the primary two games of the series.<\/p>\n<p>This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 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>TORONTO \u2013 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. \u201cAttempting to get within the bed earlier today,\u201d said Ingram after practice at Toronto\u2019s OVO Athletic Centre. \u201cMy girl\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":324745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[24956,2591,4699,3491,1440,446],"class_list":["post-324744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-adjusting","tag-early","tag-lights","tag-raptors","tag-start","tag-time"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324744","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=324744"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":324747,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324744\/revisions\/324747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}