Why James Harden, Evan Mobley insist Cavs’ offensive success will resurface vs. Raptors

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Why James Harden, Evan Mobley insist Cavs’ offensive success will resurface vs. Raptors

Spencer Davies, ClutchPoints · ClutchPoints

Tue, Apr 28, 2026 ·

7 min read

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Despite back-to-back turnover-heavy, ugly performances north of the border, the Cleveland Cavaliers are confident in their offense against the Toronto Raptors going into Game 5 of their first-round NBA playoff series. James Harden and Evan Mobley shared that it was tough to watch the Cavs’ film from Sunday, but they also learned what to expect, how to combat it, and where they could be better as a team.

“I think we’ve just got to figure out how they’ve been playing us and how they’ve been making us stagnant, and figure out the answers to the test,” Evan Mobley said after Tuesday’s practice, adding that it’s on him, Jarrett Allen , and everyone down.

“I think we’ve got to play advantage basketball. That’s the main thing. Whoever has the advantage at the moment, [you’ve] got to take that advantage, and from there, it would just cascade down. The game will be a lot easier instead of trying to force the ball to certain people and playing stagnant basketball.”

Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson is going back to the message the group has had all season: “reward our bigs.”

“We’ve always had that mantra, and we’ve got to do a better job,” Atkinson said. “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 [in] Game 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.

Harden agrees with his coach that the bigs’ involvement, or lack thereof, was the difference between the first two games and the last two. Spacing and Toronto’s defensive approach have certainly affected that ability, but there’s a responsibility from the top down to find a way to break through it.

“It’s on me. It’s on guys who have the basketball,” Harden said. “But it’s also on them to present themselves and make themselves available so we can find them. There’s going to be opportunities where we’ve got the advantage, or they’ve got the advantage, and we’ve just got to exploit them.”

“I think they started top-locking and denying James,” Mobley added. “Some of my buckets got easier for me when they drive the paint and create out of that, and sometimes the bigs step up, and I get easy ones. So they kind of denied them the last few games, and we’re trying to get them open, but I think we have a few different methods now to get everyone involved and keep the offense flowing.”

Though Mobley didn’t want to give away the Cavs’ game plan for obvious reasons, there has been a point of emphasis around attacking the Raptors’ switches when they put smalls on him and Allen.

“It doesn’t mean we can’t screen with a small on JA, but it’s just finding that balance between the guard-on-guard and getting our bigs involved,” Atkinson said. “But definitely something we talk [about]. We’ve got to have a better balance right now. I think right now, probably too tilted.”

Allen only had five field-goal attempts in Game 4 after getting seven attempts in Game 3. While Mobley should have had more opportunities, he didn’t take full advantage of the ones he had.

“I think, me, personally, I’ve definitely got to be more aggressive and attack the paint as much as possible. That’s my plan,” Mobley said.

The difference between the meetings in Cleveland and those in Toronto is staggering.

The Cavs’ core as a collective was outstanding at home, and it was Harden, Mobley, and Donovan Mitchell in particular that carried the load. Once the Raptors got back to their home base, it flipped, and both of Cleveland’s star guards were confused and rattled in those moments, especially on Sunday, when there was a chance to close with a win.

“If they’re doing something that we just didn’t understand what they were doing or we couldn’t control it or we just had no idea, we couldn’t stop it, then it’s a different conversation,” Harden said. “But I think all the things that we’re doing is self-inflicted and things that we can control, things that we can get better at, and so that’s pretty much it.

“You watch film. You go over it. You prepare yourself. You think about it. You do reps of it, and then, you go out there and execute it. So that’s pretty much the mindset that we’ve been going over these last few days, and it’s not that difficult.”

Atkinson has advised his guys to hit singles rather than overthink it going forward.

“Sometimes the best play is the simplest play, especially with their pressure,” Atkinson said. “Against pressure, you want to play advantage basketball. Sometimes it’s not a play, it’s just make that next simple pass. We don’t have to hit the home run every [time] or make the huge pass. It’s a simple pass and then the next simple pass. We can do a better job of that.”

“Just being decisive,” Harden added, noting that the team should work inside out early in Game 5. “The simple play might not be the pass. It might be a screen. Just making the easy play consistently over and over and over and over, which will lead to good things.”

Where are the Cavs’ heads at heading into Game 5?

The Cavs are in an optimistic frame of mind heading into Wednesday’s pivotal matchup , which will determine who has the opportunity to win the series first when Game 6 in Toronto rolls around.

“I’ve learned through experience, always even-keeled,” Harden said. “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.”

“I think we all know what we need to do,” Mobley added. “And you’ve gotta stay positive, gotta stay locked in, and I think we’ve been doing that, and we’re just focused on the next best thing. You’ve got to get this next one. That’s the whole plan right now. Be aggressive. Just focus on the process. I think we’re still in a good spot. We have home court advantage in this game.”

From Atkinson’s point of view, 4-5 matchups are always evenly matched. He’s had conversations with the group over the last couple of days, especially individual conversations, to reaffirm his belief in everybody.

“Every guy’s got a kind of different kind of mental performance, triggers that you can help them with,” Atkinson said. “It’s a huge part of it. 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 has been through this; you think of that seven-game series against Orlando in the first round. Max [ Strus ] has been through it. Dennis [ Schroder ] has been through it, been in big games. So you also rely on their feedback. Like, hey guys, what should our mindset be?”

Harden’s mentality answers that question: “Series has just been started, basically.”

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