Lights Out: Raptors adjusting to early start time
TORONTO – Success within the NBA playoffs is all about changes. Who could make the required tweaks to adapt their recreation to what the sequence calls for?
For famend napper Brandon Ingram, which means shifting up his bedtime.
“Trying to get in the bed earlier today,” Ingram stated after observe at Toronto’s OVO Athletic Centre. “My girl’s around so she’ll get on my nerves enough where I just want to go to sleep.”
Turning in early will likely be a necessity for Ingram — and anybody else on the Raptors who likes to nap — as Toronto hosts the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 of their opening spherical sequence at 1 pm ET on Sunday. Cleveland leads the best-of-seven matchup 2-1.
Starting heart Jakob Poeltl is not certain if the unusually early typoff will assist or hinder both workforce.
“It might, it might not, but it’s the same for both teams,” he stated. “I don’t think it really matters. We have early games throughout the season every now and then, so everybody should know what it feels like. I think we’re fine.
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“It kind of changes the routine, obviously, because all day just kind of changes, but you still try to do the same things before the game.”
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Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic stated he scheduled Saturday’s off-day observe to line up with Sunday’s start time to assist his gamers create a rhythm for the weekend.
“We’re giving guys 24 hours to get ready until tomorrow,” Rajakovic stated. “We’ve acquired to concentrate on issues that we’re controlling.
“Those are our defensive, offensive fundamentals, our culture. That’s the main focus of it. There is not much you can do regarding your body clock.”
Toronto appeared flat in back-to-back losses to start the sequence in Cleveland however routed the Cavaliers 126-104 in Game 3 on Thursday. Ingram stated it was as a result of everybody was extra aggressive on protection.
“They didn’t make as many shots. We tried to slow down (all-star guards) Donovan Mitchell and (James) Harden a little bit more,” Ingram stated. “I believe Harden nonetheless acquired some pictures that he wished, in fact, however we simply tried to restrict Donovan Mitchell’s touches in that recreation and simply make them take powerful pictures.
“Guys just stepped up. We needed everybody, and everybody was there.”
The Raptors introduced on Friday that Immanuel Quickley would miss the remainder of the workforce’s first-round sequence. Quickley had missed the primary three video games towards Cleveland with a proper hamstring pressure.
He had been progressing by way of escalating assessments however aggravated the harm on Thursday when doing the newest spherical of assessments.
Poeltl, who was an efficient pick-and-roll accomplice with Quickley within the common season, stated Toronto needs the purpose guard again as quickly as attainable.
“He’s been somewhat of a staple, at least with me, on the court, for me to play off of,” unhappy Poeltl. “quick. But now we just got to make the most of what we have. Like I said earlier, we have a deep team. We have a lot of team, a lot of guys that can come in and have an impact on this team. So we just got to go to the next option.
Quickley averaged 16.4 factors and 5.9 assists in 70 begins this season. He had missed all of Toronto’s playoff video games, together with Toronto’s 126-104 Game 3 win, earlier than he was formally dominated out for the remainder of the sequence.
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 video games of the sequence.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed April 25, 2026.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
