it took scottie hurting himself, ingram missing the second half, schroder going full FIBA and evan mobley not being a puddle for the cavs to pull out a single-digit win at home. this thing very much ain't over.

assuming everyone can actually play on friday, they can absolutely push this thing to seven. that's what bastards like these guys do.

you're seeing the frustrating necessity of brandon ingram's whole deal

very much hanging on for dear life, but they seem to be pretty good at that

just a great punch back when it felt like things were teetering

donovan mitchell with the epitome of falling upwards

just a squad of motherfuckers

scottie barnes, man. what a complete and total monster.

not that anyone asked but: here are anagrams for player names on the Toronto Blue Jays roster

New @lockedonraptors.bsky.social where I went solo to answer a bunch of mailbag questions from The Freaks. 🏀Why Jamal Shead's impact is the biggest surprise of the playoffs so far 🏀Best player in the series? Best big man? 🏀How does this series inform the summer? And more! youtu.be/SEEePzuVI_I

chaos in sports is good and fun. teams actually trying to win is, obviously, good and fun. the lottery reforms are good... and fun.

New @lockedonraptors.bsky.social where @dannycunningham.bsky.social of Locked On Cavs and I connected for a little reset ahead of Game 5. 🏀How the Raptors defense has taken control of the series 🏀Mobley & Allen's adjustment? Play better! 🏀Do the Cavs guards have counters? youtu.be/smVlTODkJmc

New @lockedonraptors.bsky.social where @vivekmjacob.bsky.social dug into that beautifully ugly Game 4 win for the Raptors. 🏀Guts & toughness: the Raps sure got 'em 🏀Darko is a 16-game coach 🏀Scottie doing it all, Shead & Walter's defense & is this a 50/50 series now? youtu.be/3uSx8iW0a4o

well that is a just a wonderful, wonderful win

CMB and Scottie. Scottie and CMB.

the prevailing takeaway from this series regardless of the outcome: raps got dawgs, man.

the thing about the ugliest playoff basketball games is that they're almost always the most compelling ones

brandon ingram might have just altered the entire narrative on his playoffs in a span of like 90 seconds

this team's got stones man

CMB is so fucking good I could cry

the raptors are doing a lot right, man. you'd assume they'll shoot a bit better than 0% from three, and if they do, they're doing stuff that will win them this game.

pretty cool when scottie's in throat-rippin' mode

New @lockedonraptors.bsky.social where Joe Wolfond joined me to sink our teeth into a delicious Game 3 win for the Raptors. 🏀The game of Scottie & RJ's lives 🏀A defensive master class & holy god, CMB 🏀Battle, Ingram(?) & the fascinating math battle of this series youtu.be/2pRTnoHKcW8

Darko's coaching a hell of a series so far man

yeah probably never gonna be able to utter a disparaging thing about rj barrett again for as long as I live

is it collin murray-boyles fault that he's a brick shithouse? I don't really think it is...

scottie the best player on the floor by several orders of magnitude. just completely in command. hooting. hollering. whooping. yippeeing.

a pull up three? from the toronto raptors? I don't think that's allowed.

big balls shit from the raps right now man. big, pendulous balls.

i'm enjoying many of the things the toronto raptors are doing right now

we've reached full boyle

a whole lotta what the hell is going on here in this table

considering the circumstances, might be the best half of basketball scottie barnes has ever played

getting run into by collin murray-boyles seems like it would fucking suck

collin murray-boyles is roughly three evan mobleys wide

brandon ingram apparently just dipped all his appendages in butter

raps really testing the limits of the idea that they can't call everything

a brandon ingram look at the rim!

New @lockedonraptors.bsky.social where dear old pal @cavsanada.bsky.social joined me to talk about what insecurities he has about the Cavs as the series shifts to Toronto. 🏀The Cavs fan psyche in 2026 🏀Concerned about the role players? 🏀The spectre of a Harden meltdown & more! youtu.be/BZAqvAqBI6Q

New @lockedonraptors.bsky.social where @wtevs.bsky.social joined me to talk about the things we've liked through 2 games vs. Cleveland, and what's driving us nuts. 🏀CMB is a beacon of hope 🏀Invisible Ingram & having no guard play 🏀This Jak thing is a bummmmmmer youtu.be/YHFw7N1rzq8

New @lockedonraptors.bsky.social with @vivekmjacob.bsky.social where we dug into the very real signs of life the Raptors flashed in Game 2 before turnovers did them in. 🏀Running, defending & playing like the Raptors 🏀BI's very bad night 🏀A great night for Darko & much more youtu.be/tVvC0Sszt3M

how exactly does one call a timeout when nobody has the basketball

it'd be one thing if BI was getting blanketed by like Ausar Thompson or some other freak of a wing defender, but this is supposed to be a matchup where he can eat

probably woulda closed with CMB over Ingram, considering the events of the evening...

jamaaaaaaaaal my guy

just keep hangin' in there

you just hope that spending an entire playoff series getting obliterated by excellent guard play will inspire the raps front office to end its years-long aversion to having excellent guard play this summer

choosing to believe that possession ended after the scottie-cmb double block. that shit was really cool.

why do the raptors hate having the ball in their hands so much huh