TORONTO – Jamal Shead enjoyed a moment of appreciation from his former coach at the University of Houston, Kelvin Sampson.
The second-year guard made one of the biggest plays in Toronto’s 93-89 Game 4 win on Sunday when he forced an eight-second foul on Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell. The Raptors trailed by one point with 40.8 seconds left.
Scottie Barnes hounded Mitchell in the backfield with the clock running before Shead ran in and made a play on the ball, diving for it before going out of bounds after the refs called the foul.
“Sam texted me, it was good,” Shead said of his old coach. “He just said (he was) proud of me, and we both just said culture. That was something that was ingrained in me for four years there (at the University of Houston), so just getting that text from him and him letting me know that he was proud of me was great.”
“Floor diving is non-negotiable at the University of Houston,” he added. “We get sent off for that, we lose game time for that. So that’s pretty normal.”
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Shead and the Raptors evened their first-round playoff series 2-2 with the win after dropping the first two games in Cleveland. Toronto now goes on the road for Game 5 on Wednesday.
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Cleveland was heavily favored entering the series and showed why in the opening two games, averaging 120.5 points and winning by an average margin of 11.5.
But Toronto turned things around, starting on the defensive end. The Raptors held the Cavaliers to 96.5 points per game, including a 126-104 win in Game 3. Mitchell went from averaging 31 points in the first two games to 17.5 in Games 3 and 4, with co-star James Harden dropping from 25 to 18.5.
“It starts on defense for us,” Shead said. “I think if we can figure out how to take our defense with us on the road, I think we’ll figure everything else out from there.”
Shead hasn’t been the only one to turn a corner. Barnes has been the best player in the series, averaging a series-best 25.8 points along with 7.3 assists while taking over Mitchell and Harden’s defensive duties.
RJ Barrett of Mississauga, Ont., is averaging 24.3 points while also stepping up in a big way defensively.
“Hold on, we have no choice,” Barnes said when asked about bringing that same intensity to the road. ” … We’ve done that the last two or three games. We just have to keep doing it. Play with heart, intensity, focus, follow the game plan, help each other out.”
Barnes is the only Raptor who was part of the team’s last playoff appearance four years ago, when he was a rookie.
The two-time all-star said he didn’t learn anything new about his team until the night of the series.
“I know we play hard, we play aggressive, we try to be physical. We just have to play our style of basketball, our brand of basketball,” he said.
However, head coach Darko Rajakovic offered his take on what the playoffs and adversity can do to players.
“I think whenever you say what player it’s made of, what team it’s made of, I think they’re always finding out over and over again that there’s more,” he said.
“Whatever the best and highest day was before that, once you hit that, you’re looking for new highs.”
Rajakovic said the series is showing key starters like Barrett, Barnes and Brandon Ingram are still evolving as players.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on April 28, 2026.
&copies 2026 The Canadian Press
