OverDrive
Lewenberg on the Raptors and Cavaliers' matchup, Ingram's performance and Barnes' role
20 Apr 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Let's head to Cleveland. I had a tip-off tonight. Here's our Rapids reporter. There he is, Josh Leuenberg. J. Lou, if you could pick one thing you think Darko will do differently or will ask his team to do differently tonight, what do you think that will be?
Chapter 2: What are the key issues facing the Raptors in Game 1?
I think the biggest problem is there isn't one thing. There are many, many things. It seems like the focus for them has been Brandon Ingram, though, which like a mixed feelings on that for me anyway, because like, as you mentioned, nine shots for a guy that you bring in to be the guy that's going to pop off, pop off the offense in games like this. That's a problem.
And I can tell you, I've talked to a lot of people over the last couple of days saying, that didn't think his post-game comments were a great look either. So they've clearly emphasized that. That's been the major talking point over the last couple days. Every player we've talked to, every time we've talked to Darko, they've talked about the importance of getting Ingram more involved.
And I don't disagree. That obviously needs to happen here. But I guess the fear is an overcorrection to the point where you are forcing Ingram
looks that aren't natural in the offense like if he's able to get those looks within the the flow of the actual offense great but what you don't want to see is for him to have one of those games where he shoots seven for 25 or whatever it is and a lot of those looks come at the expense of the
Chapter 3: How is Brandon Ingram's performance impacting the game strategy?
pace and the flow of the offense. And if that's going to happen, he's going to take 25 shots and they're going to be force-feeding him the ball. He's got to have a career night. He's got to have one of those memorable, historic, playoff-type performances. And I wouldn't put it past him. He's that good. But as the Cavs showed in Game 1, so are they. And they've clearly game-planned for
Brandon Ingram.
Staying with Ingram, J. Lou, what do you make of his whole kind of vibe? You talked about his comments post-game. And I know everyone in pro sports, how they sound and their kind of vibe, it's not what happens out on the court or out on the ice. But he just almost looks like he... I know he's chill and he's... It's like he's...
It's like if you're looking for a guy that says, I'm just going to go out there and take control of it, he doesn't come across with that. What's his whole body language and his comments and his whole overall vibe saying to you?
Well, in terms of the overall vibe, I mean, it's not dissimilar from the guy that led them back in 2019. Now, Ingram is not Kawhi, but I don't mind the like in a lot of ways, I think that could help him at this time of the year. The fact that he doesn't seem to get shaken very easily. He plays at his own pace. It's hard to kind of speed him up or slow him down.
Even the first half, like I thought he was one of the things that was working for the Raptors, at least in the half court.
in the first half now a lot of those shots were really really tough and he made the point yesterday it's the playoffs he's not going to get open looks dean wade was forcing him to take really tough shots but that's one of the things about ingram is he can hit those shots so i don't mind the personality the kind of the even-keeled low-key soft-spoken personality um but
Yeah, I mean, the comments were interesting. It did kind of read like he was throwing Darko under the bus with the whole, like, coach wanted me to set screens and everything like that because we know, like, there's still ways to score. There's still ways to get shots off of screening. To me, like, this wasn't so much... preparation issue, I don't think, in game one.
It wasn't for a lack of preparation. Maybe game planning, because there's certainly some issues that I had with the game plan, and we can talk about that. But to me, more than anything else, this was a team that wasn't... ready or maybe familiar enough with what playoff basketball entails in game one. They got off to that hot start.
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