The Cleveland Cavaliers spent the first half of Game 5 looking like a team about to be down 3-2. They spent the second half looking like the version of themselves that won 60 games. The difference, by Donovan Mitchell's account, was a halftime soliloquy from a midseason acquisition.
Cleveland beat the Toronto Raptors at Rocket Arena on Wednesday night to take a 3-2 series lead, with Dennis Schroder delivering 19 points and the kind of late-game presence Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson said the front office had specifically envisioned when they traded for him. Mitchell, asked about Schroder's impact, started laughing before he answered.
"It's funny," Mitchell said. "He spoke at length probably for about two or three minutes at halftime just about what he saw and what we could have done better as a group. And then after the game, we were like, damn, I guess you was just talking to yourself."
The playful jab masked a clear point. Schroder put up 19 points and an active defensive shift on RJ Barrett, and the Cavaliers fed off it from the third quarter forward.
"When you have a leader like that guy who's been there in those moments to stay level-headed as a collective, he really led the charge, especially in that fourth," Mitchell said. "Just being everywhere. We look at the 19 points, but his defensive presence, just being around, just being there causing havoc, and then making them pay especially when they're denying James and denying myself."
Mitchell also addressed the broader question of whether Game 5 represented a turning point for a Cavaliers group that lost Games 3 and 4 in Toronto. He stopped short of declaring it a breakthrough.
"It is easy when we got down 12, 14, the boos, the fans feeling it, it's easy to allow that to affect you," he said. "But we've been here, right? It definitely is a step in the right direction. It wasn't perfect, but it was solid, and this is the playoffs. It's not going to be easy."
Atkinson backed up Mitchell's read on Schroder with a description that sounded like a throwback nickname.
"The guy's played in a lot of big games," Atkinson said. "This type of game fits him. I think it started with him getting to the rim. And then that loosened up the jumper for him, and then I thought his defense on Barrett, he really got under him, you know, harassed him. He was, as he likes to call him, Dennis Menace tonight."
The other tactical headline of the night was a starting-lineup change. Atkinson replaced Dean Wade with Max Strus from tip-off, and Strus rewarded him with timely shooting in a second-half stretch that finally cracked Toronto's half-court defence.
"They're gumming up our offense right now. We just needed some more spacing," Atkinson said. "Max gives you some playmaking too. He can get downhill. He's really good making passes in the pocket. Dean's kind of more stationary and a space guy. So we just felt like we needed some, and it had nothing to do with the way Dean Wade was playing. He's playing really good. His defense has been really good. But it was more we needed the spacing and playmaking of Max."
Atkinson also flagged the one number that has been bothering him through five games: live-ball turnovers, which he said gave Toronto the easy transition shots that have kept them in the series.
"I told them at halftime, the live ball turnovers are just, it just fuels them. It fuels their attack. It gets their momentum going," Atkinson said. "We still haven't figured out a way to clean that up. If we're going to win on the road, we got to find a way."
Game 6 is in Toronto on Friday.
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*Originally published on [NBA News Global](https://nbanews.global/article/cavs-game-5-raptors-mitchell-schroder-strus-atkinson-lineup-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
