Late Cleveland turnover, improbable 3-pointer send Raptors past Cavs 112-110 in overtime to force Game 7
TORONTO — The two best words in sports:
Game. Seven.
The fourth-seeded Cavs were outlasted by the fifth-seeded Toronto Raptors, 112-110, in overtime of Game 6 on Friday night at Scotiabank Arena. The best-of-seven series is tied at 3-3, with the finale Sunday in Cleveland.
“They came out with a lot of force, a ton of force and hit us pretty hard,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said following the loss. “Then we showed great resiliency coming back. A valiant comeback. This is typical NBA playoff basketball.”
Fueled by a raucous, t-shirt-wearing and towel-waving sellout crowd, the Raptors were in control for most of the night.
But for the second consecutive game, the favored Cavaliers mounted a furious fourth-quarter rally.
They had it. They were headed for the second round. But the playoff gods had other plans.
With 1:36 left in overtime, the Cavs fought all the way back from a one-time 15-point deficit, taking their first lead — 108-106 — since the closing minute of the first quarter.
It lasted 11 seconds.
On the following possession, Raptors forward Scottie Barnes tied the game with a clutch 9-foot floater.
After both teams traded empty possessions, Cavs star Donovan Mitchell answered — again — on a driving one-handed scoop shot that put Cleveland back in front by two points.
Out of the timeout, the Raptors worked their way to the free-throw line as point guard Jamal Shead got Cavs center Jarrett Allen off balance and drew contact.
Shead split the pair of freebies. It was 110-109 Cavs with 26 seconds remaining in OT.
With two new players subbed into the game — Dennis Schröder and Max Strus — to combat Toronto’s hounding pressure, and expecting the Raptors to foul on purpose, Cleveland inbounded the ball without issue, getting it in the hands of speedy Schröder who rushed into the frontcourt.
Forced to the sideline, opposite the benches, nearly stepping out of bounds, Schröder threw a pass to Evan Mobley, who was being tightly guarded. The ball was poked away by pesky Toronto rookie Collin Murray-Boyles, bouncing off Mobley and going out of bounds.
“Evan stepped to the ball, the kid came and made a good play,” Atkinson said. “Kid makes a heck of a play.”
The Cavs didn’t have a coach’s challenge, using it — and losing it — early in the second quarter, so despite Mobley’s protest, the Raptors took over with around 10 seconds left.
As Barnes drove toward the basket, Cleveland’s swarming defense forced him to give up the ball.
The clock ticked down. Fans were on their feet. Cameras out. RJ Barrett took the Barnes pass and launched a 29-foot 3-pointer from the top of the key.
The ball bounced off the heel of the rim, sailed straight up toward the top of the shot clock on top of the backboard, and then came straight down into the basket with 1 second left, causing the arena to erupt.
“Sometimes the basketball gods aren’t with you,” Atkinson said.
The Cavs called timeout. They needed to regroup.
Atkinson drew up a play designed for Mitchell that ended with Mobley getting a 29-footer that came up short at the buzzer.
No final-second Mobley heroics. No miraculous bounce. Just a gut-wrenching loss.
“Crazy shot,” said Dean Wade. “It doesn’t make it any easier or harder or anything like that. We still lost the game.”
Inside an emotionally charged environment, the physical tone was set in the opening minutes as James Harden and Barrett — two guys who got into a Game 5 scuffle — received double technical fouls.
Barrett got the last laugh.
By the end of the opening quarter — a 12-minute slugfest that featured eight lead changes and two ties — it was 32-all.
But Cleveland went scoreless in the first three minutes of the second quarter — and never really regained its rhythm, limited to just 19 points and trailing by a then game-high 10 at halftime.
The Raptors increased that to 15 at one point in the third quarter.
That’s when the Cavs mounted another furious rally — shades of the Game 5 thievery that gave them a chance to close out the series on the road Friday night.
Cleveland made it a three-point game with 6:54 left. A minute later, the Cavs were within one. It remained a one-point game at the three-minute mark of the fourth. With 15.6 left, the Raptors were still clinging to a two-point advantage — until Mobley calmly tied the game with a driving left-handed bucket around Murray-Boyles.
After Toronto’s final possession ended with a desperation baseline jumper from Shead that missed, the game was headed to overtime.
The Raptors outscored Cleveland, 8-6, in the extra period, with Barrett delivering the fatal blow.
“We’ve seen that this year. We’ve seen that last year — Tyrese Haliburton. Part of the game,” Harden said. “Easily the ball goes off the rim and we win the game but it didn’t. It went in. We get an opportunity to play another game at home.”
Missing nearly 40 points of every-night production because of injuries to All-Star swingman Brandon Ingram (heel inflammation) and starting point guard Immanuel Quickley (hamstring strain), the Raptors were led by a trio of players who all reached the 20-point mark.
Barnes had 25 points. Barrett and Ja’Kobe Walter added 24 apiece.
The Cavs got 26 from Mobley in a losing effort. Mitchell added 24, including 11 in the fourth quarter as he helped will Cleveland back in the game.
Harden, the team’s prized deadline acquisition who resuscitated title hopes, nearly recorded a triple-double, tallying 16 points, nine assists and nine rebounds in 44 minutes.
After 293 hard-fought minutes, this series now comes down to one game.
The season. Futures. Legacies. Careers. Jobs. It’s all on the line.
Game. Seven.
“This is why you fight so hard to get home court advantage, right?” Atkinson said. “We knew this wasn’t going to be easy. This is the playoffs. This is what it’s about. Got to recover and get ready for Sunday’s game.”
Up next
The Cavs will host the Raptors for Game 7 on Sunday. Tipoff time is set for 7:30 p.m.
