Winners and Losers: Cavs vs Raptors Game 7 – Jarrett Allen plays the hero

The Cleveland Cavaliers are moving on, courtesy of a certain Fro.

Let’s check on tonight’s winners and losers.

WINNER – Jarrett **c**** Allen

I’m not sure if there was a more encouraging way for the Cavs to exorcise some demons and advance to the second round than Jarrett Allen going full-on beast mode in a Game 7.

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Are the lights no longer too bright?

Allen was steady in the first half, immediately making his presence felt on both ends of the floor. But it wasn’t until the third quarter that all hell broke loose. Allen scored 14 points and hauled in 10 rebounds during that period, suddenly appearing anywhere a rebound was available.

This was the total package from Allen. Offensive rebounds and second-chance opportunities. Rejecting shots at the rim, then securing stops with his defensive rebounding. All the while, Allen rolled hard to the basket and kept applying pressure on Toronto’s undersized frontcourt to stave him off. They weren’t successful, and Allen made sure to take full advantage of it.

The Cavs fired off their fake-snow machine for a ‘Cavalanche’ in the fourth quarter. Moments before, Allen received loud MVP chants at the free-throw line. He finished with 22 points and 19 gigantic rebounds. To say it again, beast mode.

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Allen has had some real stinkers in big spots. We’ve seen him look totally invisible in some of the most important games of the season. Tonight couldn’t have been any more different. You couldn’t watch a possession without noticing Allen on the floor. This was the best performance of his career in arguably his biggest game to date.

LOSER – First Half Turnovers

Every second you’re trailing in a Game 7 feels like you’re drowning. The Cavs drowned for nearly the entire first half, only getting a brief gasp of breath when the game was tied in the closing moments of the second quarter.

Turnovers were the primary reason for that struggle.

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The Cavs turned it over 13 times in the first half. To his credit, only one of those came from James Harden. The rest of the Cavalier starters coughed it up 10 times. That’s the type of stuff…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/winners-losers-cavs-vs-raptors-033000910.html

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Publish date : 2026-05-04 03:30:00

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