Cavaliers finally pull away from Raptors in Game 7 to close out series, set up battle with Pistons

It took them a long time to find separation, but the Cleveland Cavaliers finally closed out the Toronto Raptors.

The Cavaliers pulled away in the second half Sunday night to beat the Raptors 114-102 in Game 7, thanks largely to a huge third quarter. The victory advanced the Cavaliers into the Eastern Conference semifinals for the third straight season, and set up a matchup with the Detroit Pistons in the next round. The Pistons beat the Orlando Magic to close out their series earlier Sunday after initially falling into a 3-1 hole.

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Cavaliers finally put Raptors away

After 26 quarters, the series between the Cavaliers and the Raptors had been about as even as it could possibly be. The Cavaliers rallied every time the Raptors appeared to take a step ahead Sunday night, and they mounted an 11-2 run to tie the game 49-49 by halftime. As the two teams entered the locker room, they had each put up exactly 718 total points and were each shooting 47% from the field at that point in the series.

But finally, Cleveland made a move and started controlling the game in the third quarter. Donovan Mitchell got the Cavs up by nine points early, and then Sam Merrill drilled a wide-open 3-pointer late in the period to push their lead to 12. The surge continued after a Raptors timeout when Max Strus picked the ball away from Scottie Barnes and tossed it up to Jarrett Allen for a breakaway dunk.

That capped a 25-10 run to start the period.

But Strus was called for a flagrant foul after he appeared to go out of his way to headbutt Barnes. While it could have easily led to his ejection, officials hit him with only a flagrant 1 foul and let him remain in the contest.

Despite Strus’ blunder, the Cavaliers still pushed their lead to 19 points by the end of the period, all while holding Toronto to just five field goals in the quarter.

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By then, there was nothing the Raptors could do. Cleveland held pace the rest of the way and picked up the 12-point win easily to end the series.

Allen dominated for the Cavaliers in the win. He finished with 22 points, 19 rebounds and three blocks while shooting 7-of-11 from the field….

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/breaking-news/article/cavaliers-finally-pull-away-from-raptors-in-game-7-to-close-out-series-set-up-battle-with-pistons-022739271.html

Author : Ryan Young

Publish date : 2026-05-04 02:27:00

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