INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — The Cleveland Cavaliers had the tough task of watching the film from their two road losses to the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the NFL Playoffs.
Game 4 was perhaps the hardest watch of the two, considering the Cavs held a seven-point lead with less than five minutes to play before turnovers and mistakes on both sides of the floor saw the Raptors go on a 17-5 run to take the lead and get the 93-89 win to even out the series at two a piece.
"It was a little frustrating. It was a little frustrating," said Cavs guard James Harden, who was asked about watching the film from Game 4. "But in the playoffs, you don't want to say, ‘Oh, we should have won.’ It was frustrating, but then we didn't execute how we should have for whatever reason on both ends of the ball."
Now, back from Toronto, the Cavs are focusing on bouncing back from dropping the two road games. Some of that starts with the obvious, like cleaning up turnovers. Harden himself had 15 total turnovers in the two games inside Scotiabank Arena.
"A lot of it was self-inflicted for me, my turnovers, which are a lot, too many. But a lot of it was self-conflicted. Give them credit. They're a good defensive team—physical. They swarm the basketball on the drive, but a lot of them, for me, I can correct, and I'll be better," Harden said.
Other areas of focus for the Cavaliers include cleaning up on the boards and, perhaps most importantly for continued success in the postseason, getting the bigs activated on offense.
"Yeah, it's definitely on us, and it's on everyone. Whoever has the advantage, we got to take advantage of that, and from there, the game will make it be a lot easier instead of trying to force the ball to certain people and playing stagnant basketball," said Cavs forward Evan Mobley.
Head coach Kenny Atkinson acknowledged the importance of making sure they get both Mobley and Jarrett Allen more involved in the post.
"Just reward our bigs. We've always had that kind of mantra, and we've got to do a better job. You get 'em on a mismatch, punishing the switches, getting them deep. In transition, when they run out and get a mismatch, throwing it to them. They're both great in the pocket. We're not hitting them in the pocket like we did Games 1 and 2. So it's just shifting that mindset. The guys understand how important [they are]. But that's a big key to us revving our offense up again," Atkinson said.
But watching the film and making a plan for physical adjustments in the game plan is just part of the Cavs' approach. They are also making mental adjustments.
Some of that is simply working not to get too low on themselves after two tough games.
"I've learned through experience. Always even keel. Series, games change fast. Things happen. I think for us, it’s just getting off to a really good start tomorrow. We won two games at home. They won two games at home. We had two opportunities to win two games there, and it just didn't happen. So get back on pace. I think defensively, we were exceptional. Offensively, we can be better, which is exciting just because we have room to grow offensively and we will," Harden said.
It's also about leaning on their guys who have been through the adversity of a tough series before. That's what Atkinson has been heavily focused on since Sunday's Game 4 loss.
"I think that's the art of coaching, right? Team mindset. What does that look like? And we had a lot of discussions about that. And then it's your individual conversations with the players because every guy's got a kind of different kind of mental performance, triggers that you can help them with. It's a huge part of it," Atkinson said. "That old cliche, 'Half the game is mental.' It's really true. There's a reason people say it all the time. So we address it, we talk about it. We're lucky we have a vet team. James has been through [this], Don [Donovan Mitchell] has been through this. You think of that seven-game series against Orlando in the first round. Max has been through it. Dennis has been through it. Dennis has been in big games. So you also rely on their feedback. Like, 'Hey guys, what should our mindset be?'"
For the Cavs, that mindset is even-keeled. They aren't panicking after having the series evened up. They're focused on the next game and thriving in the home court advantage Rocket Arena provides.
"It's 2-2, and tomorrow we're going to be turnt. It's going to be live in there. So, we’ve got to be better. We will be better," Harden said.
Game 5 tips off inside Rocket Arena at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
