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 any separation whatsoever, but the Cleveland Cavaliers have finally closed out the Toronto Raptors.

The Cavaliers pulled away in the second half on Sunday night to beat the Raptors 114-102 in Game 7, thanks largely to a huge third quarter outing. That officially gave them the 4-3 series win.

That sent 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 on Sunday after initially falling into a 3-1 hole.

Cavaliers finally put Raptors away

After 22 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 on Sunday night, and they mounted an 11-2 run to tie the game up 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 them 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. They pushed it immediately after a Raptors timeout, too, after Max Strus picked the ball away from Scottie Barnes and tossed it up to Jarrett Allen for a breakaway dunk. 

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

But Strus was called for a flagrant foul, too, after he appeared to go out of his way to headbutt Barnes. While it could have easily led to his ejection, officials only hit him with a flagrant one 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 made field goals in the quarter.

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, 17 rebounds and three blocks while shooting 7-of-11 from the field. He’s now just the second player in team history to put up at least 20 points and 15 rebounds in a Game 7, too.

Mitchell added 22 points, and James Harden finished with 18 points and six rebounds.

Barnes led Toronto with 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists. R.J. Barrett added 21 points, and Jamal Shead finished with 14 points. Toronto went just 8-of-28 from the 3-point line, and was out-rebounded by 27.

While Cleveland has now made it to the Eastern Conference semifinals three years in a row, the franchise hasn’t made it past that round since 2018. That was the fourth straight time they reached the NBA Finals in the LeBron James era. They’ll have to knock off the top seed in the East to avoid the same fate as the last two years, but the Pistons are in the same spot — as they had to fight to even make it out of the first round.

The two sides will have to turn around quickly, too. Cleveland will head to Detroit for Game 1 on Tuesday night. But Sunday night’s team win was the first step for the Cavaliers. They aren’t done just yet.