Anyone who says mascots can’t have an impact on an NBA game has clearly never met Benny The Bull, but in case you need more evidence for how important these characters are in the standings, look no further than Friday night’s matchup between the Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Sixers entered the home game on a seven-game losing streak. The Cavs arrived having lost seven games all season. Fortunately, Philadelphia could rely on Franklin the Dog to provide some late-game defense with the Sixers nursing a three-point lead.
As Cleveland’s Ty Jerome prepared to inbound the ball with nine seconds remaining in regulation, the 76ers’ mascot got as close as he could without touching the Cavs’ guard. Then he broke out the spirit fingers for extra effect.
Jerome called for a timeout, but when play resumed, Franklin was right there, standing his ground and taking away any extra airspace. The result was Jerome sailing the pass across the court and right back out of bounds for a turnover.
Advertisement
Check out this elite mascot defense (via Reddit):
It’s hard to knock Jerome here. The former Virginia star played his best game as a pro with a career-high 33 points off the bench — including a perfect eight-for-eight from behind the arc. But that inbounds was tough to watch.
The turnover forced Cleveland to put Philly on the free throw line, where the Sixers were able to hang on for a 132-129 victory.
Paul George and Tyrese Maxey were spectacular, combining for 59 points, but obviously the game ball belongs to Franklin after this one.
A “press release” is promotional text issued by a rider, team, company or organization to inform the public about an event, product, or service from the issuer’s own point of view, and if deemed to have news value, may be placed on roadracingworld.com as a service to our readers.
A press release is not an article written by Roadracingworld.com staffers. When a post is labeled with the words “press release”, it means that Roadracingworld.com is not responsible for its content and that Roadracingworld.com makes no guarantee that it is accurate. Not all press releases are posted and Roadracingworld.com may reject press releases if the content is too heavy on commercial promotion with little or no news value or if the press release contains obvious errors.
A well-balanced effort and a huge second half from the Cleveland Cavaliers stars allowed them to dominate the Toronto Raptors 126-113 for the first playoff win of the year.
Here are the winners and losers of the first playoff game of the year for Cleveland.
Winners
Max Strus
Oh, did Max Strus miss over 65 games this year while dealing with injury he sustained in the offseason? You would have never noticed based on how he played in game one.
He was the difference maker off the bench in 24 minutes. He scored 24 points on 80% shooting. He was the clutch man at the end of the first half with four points in 30 seconds, then took over in the third by scoring eight straight.
Advertisement
Kenny Atkinson made a strong push to get Strus back in the rotation before playoffs and it’s showing why. He’ll be the X-factor all postseason long.
Cleveland’s starting bigs
The Cavaliers started the game looking to get Jarrett Allen touches inside the paint on the first four possessions of the game. He set the tone early by playing bully ball, throwing down a few hard dunks and showing Cleveland wanted to win the paint.
Allen cooled off but what he did early opened up the lanes for James Harden to drive in and create open shots on the perimeter. Then as Toronto tried to take that away, Evan Mobley took over in the paint.
Advertisement
Cleveland can win this series in the paint as the Raptors don’t have enough size to keep pace with this brand of basketball. Harden can unlock a new layer from bigs, it showed it the regular season and it’s showing now.
Advertisement
Mobley finished with 17 points and seven rebounds and Allen had 10 with seven boards.
The James Harden trade
Plenty of people doubted how effective Harden would be in the playoffs. He hasn’t had much success since he was a bench player for the Thunder.
Advertisement
This game was peak Harden. He got to be the playmaker instead of the scorer and it opened Cleveland’s offense up. As stated, the big got involved in a big way. The role players were able to find their shots.
Advertisement
He just freezes the game in a unique way. He knows when to throw a lob, when to pass out, when to shoot a floater and when to get creative.
Harden also helped Donovan Mitchell play an efficient game. Mitchell has always been able to score in the postseason, but often has had to sacrifice his efficiency. With Harden around Mitchell will know he is another star who can score when needed, but will focus on getting everyone else involved.
Harden finished with 22 points and 10 assists while Mitchell had 32 points. Meanwhile, the Clippers couldn’t make it out of the play-in and Los Angeles saw some of the frustration with Darius Garland’s inconsistency.
Losers
Jaylon Tyson
Cleveland found a role for 10 guys in this first game which was something they weren’t expected to do in the playoffs. Many expected Dennis Schroder or Keon Ellis to be the odd man out of the rotation.
Instead Tyson looked like someone playing in his first career playoff game, which is exactly what he is. In just 13 minutes he had four fouls. He shot 0/4, only hitting a pair of free throws. He turned the ball over once and really got his defense exposed at times.
Advertisement
Tyson’s role in the rotation could be in serious jeopardy. Ellis and Shroder didn’t have great days either, but both helped keep the offense smooth and played solid enough defense. Tyson should have some more opportunities to prove himself, but the leash gets shorter in the postseason.
Toronto’s guards without Quickley
Without Immanuel Quickley out there, the Cavaliers had a clear mismatch to exploit in the backcourt.
Now RJ Barrett and Jamal Shead still managed to put up some points, Barrett scored 24 and Shead scored 17, but neither got the offense going and neither could stop Mitchell and Harden on defense.
Advertisement
Barrett and Shead combined to dish out just five assists. Most of their passing had to come from the front court. That is a major weakness for Toronto right now.
Advertisement
Things got worse with Ja’Kobe Walter and AJ Lawson. Both guys struggled hard defensively and allowed Cleveland to bully with their stars.
If Quickley is out for the rest of the series, Cleveland will have plenty of chances to end this in four games.
The 2026 NBA postseason is officially underway as the Cleveland Cavaliers host the Toronto Raptors – and the Raptors have some work to do.
The Cavs started the third quarter on a 21-6 run to open up a 22-point lead after clinging to a seven-point advantage at halftime. Donovan Mitchell scored 11 points in the third, including Cleveland’s final five points of the quarter, and he leads all scorers with 24 points heading into the final 12 minutes.
As the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference the Cavs (52-30) have homecourt advantage in the best-of-seven series, but the Raptors (46-36) defeated Cleveland in all three regular-season matchups. However, all three of those games were played before Thanksgiving.
Advertisement
Continue to follow USA TODAY Sports for updates from Cavaliers vs Raptors Game 1. Want to see the full National Basketball Association schedule for April 18 and how to watch all the games? Check out our sortable NBA schedule to filter by team or division.
Cleveland 120, Toronto 102 with 3:58 left in 4th quarter.
The Cavs opened the third quarter on a 21-6 run, including a 9-0 start out of the gate. And who’s leading the way? That would be Max Strus, who made eight points before the Raptors called a timeout at 5:37 mark. Strus has a game-high 19 points for the game.
Points (61): James Harden 15, Donovan Mitchell 13, Max Strus 11
Rebounds (18): Evan Mobley 4, Jarrett Allen 4, Sam Merrill 3
