Cleveland beat Toronto 115-105 in Game 2 on Wednesday night and took a 2-0 lead in the first-round series, with Dean Wade doing the sort of work that rarely shows up in a box score. Wade was the primary defender on Brandon Ingram, who finished with seven points on 3-of-15 shooting and did not score in the first half.
Wade scored three points, but the Cavaliers wanted his defense more than his offense. He was on Ingram for much of the night as Cleveland again made the Raptors forward fight for every look, and the result was another quiet scoring line for one of Toronto’s most important players.
Ingram had entered the series as the Raptors’ leading scorer during the regular season at 21.5 points per game and had averaged 20 or more points for seven straight seasons. He was better in Game 1, when he scored 17 points on nine shots, but Cleveland tightened the screws in Game 2 and never let him find a rhythm early. Ingram finally scored on consecutive possessions early in the third quarter with a 16-foot jumper and a 19-foot jumper, then added a corner 3-pointer with 1:12 left.
Kenny Atkinson called it a “superstar game” for Cleveland after Donovan Mitchell, James Harden and Evan Mobley combined for 83 points. That cushion helped cover for the rough patches that came when Toronto tried to wear down the Cavaliers and was better on the glass and in transition.
Wade said there is no realistic way to shut a scorer like Ingram out completely, even after a night like this. “I know shutting somebody out is probably not going to happen, especially with the caliber of player he is,” he said, adding that he had “a little lapse at the end” when Ingram hit the 3 after Wade helped into the paint. Still, he said the bigger point was simple: keep the star under his number and win the game.
That job has become a little more complicated for Wade, who sprained his right ankle again last month after stepping on a ball boy’s foot about 90 minutes before a game against the Miami Heat. He now wears matching black ankle braces on both feet and calls them his “60-year-old, church-league ankle braces.” Cleveland needs that version of him more than ever. Through two games, the Cavaliers have made Ingram work for almost everything, and if that holds, Toronto will have to find a much different answer fast.
