‘Not going to win us a basketball game’ Raptors’ Ingram said of only nine shots

Scoring leader had it going early, but was invisible in second half of blowout playoff loss in Cleveland.

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Published Apr 18, 2026  •  2 minute read

Toronto Raptors forward Brandon Ingram drives on Cleveland Cavaliers forward Dean Wade during the first half in Game 1 of a first-round NBA playoffs basketball series, Saturday, April 18, 2026, In Cleveland. Photo by David Dermer /AP

Brandon Ingram averaged nearly 17 shot attempts per game during his first regular season with the Toronto Raptors. In two previous playoff series he’s hoisted up north of 17 a game.

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But in Saturday’s post-season opener in Cleveland, Ingram attempted only nine, just one coming in the second half of the blowout loss. It doesn’t take a basketball genius to realize nine shots for Toronto’s leading scorer, one of the more gifted shot-makers in basketball, isn’t a recipe for success. Ingram said as much afterward.

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“Well, coach wanted to use me as a screener. Also he noticed that my man wasn’t coming off me so he wanted me outside of the action and being a receiver,” Ingram told reporters in Cleveland when asked why he wasn’t really involved in the offence in the final two quarters (other than the one shot attempt, Ingram had two others which missed but sent him to the free throw line).

“At the end of the day, me shooting nine shots is not going to win basketball games,” said Ingram in the quote that will be remembered from Game 1. “Got to figure out ways where I could still be effective.”

Things started out well for Ingram and the Raptors. He was one of the better players on the floor in the first quarter, with three quick assists when Cleveland pressured him, along with three pretty jumpers. Ingram gave Cleveland’s Jaylon Tyson fits in the second, but was quieter with only two made shots and one assist.

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Then everything shifted. One attempt with a toe in the paint missed in the third quarter, another inside attempt led to free throws. Ingram drew two more free throws when he checked back in with less than a minute remaining. He handed out zero assists in the quarter.

It took four minutes of the fourth for Ingram to really do anything (a block of a Donovan Mitchell attempt) and a won jump ball followed. Otherwise, nothing. He checked out for good with nearly half the fourth left and Toronto down by 20 points.

“I’m not satisfied with that at all,” Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said up at the podium of one shot for Ingram in the final 24 minutes of the game.

“We’ve got to do a better job of executing, freeing him up and playing to our standards of ball movement. Some of that is on me, but we as a group have to do better,” Rajakovic said.

While Toronto did manage 29 assists, the team committed 18 turnovers, a number it exceeded only six times all season (though two of the highest turnover games came against Cleveland).

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