Why Cavs will bring back bad Raptors memories with 6-game victory in 2026 NBA Playoffs

The Cleveland Cavaliers are entering the 2026 NBA playoffs with only one goal in mind: get over the hump. It is year four of the Donovan Mitchell contending journey in Cleveland, and the furthest they’ve gotten in the playoffs is the second round (in 2024 and 2025). The clock is ticking on the Cavs, especially after they decided to just go for it and trade the original member of their core four in Darius Garland to bring in the more experienced and durable James Harden.

There were still a few things up in the air during the final week of the regular season, as the Cavs could still have climbed to third in the Eastern Conference. In the end, the New York Knicks took care of business, and the Cavs remained in fourth place — which may be a blessing in disguise.

After all, the Cavs are about to face the Toronto Raptors in Round 1. Now, the Raptors earned this fifth-seed, as they managed to handle games against the Miami Heat in the final week of the regular season while winning the tiebreaker over the Atlanta Hawks. If anything, the Raptors have to be feeling confident. After all, Toronto swept the season series against Cleveland.

But that was still a different Cavs team; a Lonzo Ball teetering on the edge of being washed-up started two of those games, while the struggling De’Andre Hunter was still a major piece for Cleveland. The Cavs’ trade deadline dealings have certainly helped fix those issues, and for a change, an All-Star point guard is about to lead the team instead (Garland missed all three games vs. the Raptors).

With that in mind, it is definitely easier to favor the Cavs in this matchup — evoking memories of how Cleveland used to own Toronto in the playoffs when LeBron James was still around.

Cavs have their eyes on the prize

This Cavs team knows that it’s now or never when it comes to winning a title. While the likes of Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen are under contract for a few more years, keeping a contending core in today’s CBA landscape is very pricey.

What the Cavs pulled off prior to the trade deadline was a miracle; they managed to shed Ball and Hunter’s onerous salaries all while making the team better by bringing in Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroder.

But the bill will come due; Harden will be up for a new contract, and at 36 years of age with a history of hamstring injuries, one has to know that The Beard’s days as a superstar in the NBA are numbered even though he still looks ageless when he’s out there on the court.

The Cavs’ decision to trade Garland, who’s 26 years of age and has plenty of time to shed his injury-proneness, for Harden is rather telling — they have to win big and they have to win now.

Now, external circumstances don’t exactly provide the best motivation. But Mitchell and the rest of the Cavs core waited nearly a year to get their revenge. While the Indiana Pacers are nowhere to be found in the playoffs, getting the chance to avenge their early exit from the playoffs last year has to feel sweet for Mitchell and company.

The Raptors are simply standing in their way in round one, and the Cavs have to know that getting four wins against Toronto means that they’re only a quarter of the way towards their goal of winning it all.

Raptors wilt against the best opposition

All season long, the Raptors’ legitimacy as a contending team has been called into question, and justifiably so. They have routinely struggled against the best teams in the NBA. In fact, they finished the season with a ghastly 5-22 record against teams with a top-10 record in the NBA, and three of those victories came against the shorthanded and pre-roster overhaul Cavs.

The other two wins they earned are no joke (they toppled the Oklahoma City Thunder and Detroit Pistons, the best teams in either conference), but still — the Raptors have beaten up on some pretty lackluster opposition to get to this point.

In the playoffs, teams have to beat the best to be the best. The Raptors, more than any other outright playoff team in either conference, have shown that they wilt against the best opposition. Meanwhile, the Cavs are going to be locked in, and they can certainly match the Raptors’ intensity and physicality.

Expect the Cavs to keep the Raptors on this woeful trend.

Cavs have fewer defensive holes Toronto can poke

For a few years now, it’s become clear that the Cavs’ backcourt was suspect defensively. Garland, for all his brilliance as a point guard, is small and is an easy target on screening actions. Making matters worse last year was that he was unhealthy; his toe injury rendered him a shell of himself, and the Pacers capitalized on it.

This is not to say that Harden is a lockdown defender. But he at least does not have the size issues Garland has. Harden’s lower-body strength makes it so he can guard the post well, and he has actually become a very good team defender even when his focus wanes occasionally.

The Cavs just have fewer weaknesses to expose; even their bench now has a few quality pieces they can bring in. Ellis has impressed head coach Kenny Atkinson with his defensive activity. Schroder has always made it his goal to pester opposing guards in the backcourt. Jaylon Tyson looms as an X-factor as a wing with size, shooting, and ballhandling.

Even the likes of Nae’Qwan Tomlin and Max Strus can give the Cavs impressive activity on defense, and so does Sam Merrill.

This Cavs team is arguably the most complete it’s been, a 14-win decline from last season notwithstanding. And the Raptors may find it difficult to keep in step with the Cavs; from top to bottom, Cleveland has the better team. And the defensive problems that plagued their previous playoff runs have been patched up.

Cleveland should take this series in six games or fewer.

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