Jarrett Allen propels Cavaliers to game 7 win 114-102
BY TIM SHIRER
CAVS BEAT WRITER
(CLEVELAND, OH) - Sunday night at Rocket Arena in downtown Cleveland it was do or die for both host Cleveland Cavaliers and the visiting Toronto Raptors as they were tied 3-3 in their best of seven series. The winner moves on to face the Detroit Pistons/Orlando Magic on Monday night in the Eastern Conference semifinals, the loser goes home.
When time ran out it was the Cavs who finally proved they were the better team with a 114-102 victory propelled by a monster double, 22 points and 19 rebounds by Jarrett Allen.
The game started with the same sloppy play by the Cavaliers we had seen the entire series. Allen missed an easy dunk and then Evan Mobley stopped out of bounds attempting to shoot a three and Toronto jumped out to an 8-2 lead with 9:45 remaining in the opening quarter. With 8:09 left, Jamal Shead fouled James Harden and he hit one of the two and the Raptors lead was 11-6. With 6:44 left in the opening quarter, the Raptors lead was 16-8. The Cavs got into the penalty early with 6:17 left in the quarter when Toronto picked up their fifth team foul. With 4:56 left, the Raptors lead was double digits at 20-10. With 3:40 left in the opening quarter, the Cavs looked like a team that played together for about a week and the Raptors looked like a well-oiled machine even though they were missing two starters and leading 22-12. Kenny Atkinson had seen enough and took a timeout. With 2:13 left in the quarter the Cavs cut the Raptors lead to three when Donovan Mitchell hit a jumper. Then with :55.1 left Sam Merrill hit a three and the Raptors lead was two points at 24-22. When the quarter ended the Raptors led 26-24. Shead was the leading scorer in the game with seven first quarter points. Mitchell, Harden, and Merrill were pacing the Cavs with five points each. The Cavs did outrebound the Raptors in the first 12 minutes 13-6. Turnovers were still a problem for the Cavs as they turned it over five times, leading to six Raptors points.
Early in the second quarter Dennis Schroder had a chance to tie the game at 26, instead he blew an easy layup and Scottie Barnes drained three at the other end giving them a 29-24 lead. The lead ballooned back up to 32-24 with 10:42 left when Mobley picked up a foul. Then with 9:59 left after another turnover by Mitchell the Raptors scored at the other end and increased their lead to 34-27. With 8:21 left the Raptors’ lead was back at 10. With 7:07 left in the first half the Cavs were shooting 31% (8 of 26) from the field while Toronto was shooting 50% (16 of 32). With the Raptors leading 43-34 and Allen took a pass from Schroder. Allen was drug to the floor by AJ Lawson. A personal foul was called and then reviewed to determine whether it was flagrant or not. The result was that it was not flagrant even though 19,432 in Rocket Arena saw that it was flagrant. With 4:23 left in the half Merrill picked up his third personal foul. Then with 4:04 left Mobley picked up his third foul, putting the Cavaliers squarely in foul trouble. Once again with 3:53 left in the half the Cavs could not inbound the ball, which had been a problem throughout the series and had to take a timeout. With 2:18 left in the half Harden was fouled by RJ Barrett. He hit both free throws and cut the Raptors lead to 47-43. With 1:09 left, Harden hit a three and the Toronto lead was cut to 49-46. Then on the next possession Barnes picked up his third foul with less than a minute left in the half. Jaylon Tyson then tied the game at 49-49 with :42.1 remaining, which is what the score was at the half. The Cavs were shooting a miserable 33% (6 of 18) after the first quarter then shot 47% (9 of 19) in the second quarter to finish the half shooting 41% (15 of 37). The Raptors finished the half shooting 44% (19 of 43) after shooting the lights out at 55% (11 of 20) in the opening quarter. Shead and Barnes were leading all scorers at the half with 14 points apiece. Harden led the Cavs with 10. The Cavs still led the battle of the boards 25-15. Turnovers continued to be a problem for the Cavs in the opening half as they turned it over 13 times resulting in 14 Toronto points. The Raptors only turned it over eight times resulting in 10 points. The Raptors were winning the battle in the paint outscoring Cleveland 20-8. However, the Cavs bench outscored the Toronto bench 20-9.
The Cavs took their first lead of the game 18 seconds into the second half when Mobley scored in the paint. Mitchell then hit a three with 11:05 left to put the Cavs up 54-49. With 9:28 remaining Mitchell scored in the paint and the Cavs were on a 9-0 run to start the second half. Toronto called a timeout. With the Cavs leading 60-50 and 7:49 left on the third quarter clock Mitchell was called for a personal foul. It was reviewed and Mitchell of course called for a flagrant one. The NBA had to somehow get the Raptors back in the game. With 7:42 left in the quarter Mobley picked up his fourth foul. With 7:04 left the Raptors cut the Cleveland lead to 60-54. Then Barnes picked up his fourth foul at the other end when he mugged Harden with 6:53 remaining. The Raptors cut the Cavs lead to five with a three by Ja’Kobe Walker with 6:35 remaining in the third. The Cavs lead was back to eight points with 6:02 left. Then with 5:20 left, their lead was once again at 10 67-57. With 4:31 Merrill drained a three near the top of the arc and the Cavs lead was 72-59. Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic took a timeout. Immediately after the timeout Max Strus stole the ball and hit Allen at the other end giving Cleveland a 74-59 lead. With 3:19 left after Strus was called for a flagrant foul the Raptors cut the Cavs lead to 76-65. The Cavs went back up by 25 with 2:43 remaining when Mitchell was fouled and hit both free throws. After the often unfairly criticized Jarrett Allen blocked two consecutive shots. With 1:53 left in the quarter Barnes picked up his fifth personal foul when he belted Allen from behind. Allen hit both free throws and put the Cavs up 81-65. With :53.0 left until the final quarter and the Cavs led 84-65 after Allen hit 1 of 2 at the free throw line. After Allen missed two free throws with :22.1 left he got the rebound and scored, giving the Cavs an 87-68 lead after three. The Cavs outscored Toronto 38-19 in the period. Barnes and Allen led all scorers with 20 points each. The Cavs were absolutely dominating the boards through three quarters 47-23.
With 7:56 left in regulation the Cavs led 97-78 and the Raptors took another timeout. With 4:58 left, Mobley hit Strus in the paint, and the Cavs took a 101-84 lead. The Raptors cut the Cavs lead to 103-88 with 4;10 left in regulation when Barnes hit two free throws after Merrill picked up his fourth foul. The Cavs lead was down 12 points with 3:35 left when Barrett drained a three from the corner. Harden was then fouled from behind the three-point line and made all three free throws to give the Cavs a 106-91 lead with 3:15 remaining. The Raptors then cut the Cavs lead to 107-96 with 2:31 left. Then the dagger with 1:40 left on the clock came from Strus when he hit a three and gave the Cavs a 112-98 lead. The Cavs were on to the second round to face JB Bickerstaff and the Pistons completing the 4-3 series win with a 114-102 win over the Raptors.
Allen and Mitchell led the Cavs with 22 points apiece, but Allen was the key to victory as he pulled down 19 rebounds and had three block shots.
The Cavs are now moving on to the Eastern Conference semifinals which begin on Tuesday night in Detroit at 7:30 pm.
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POSTED 05/03/2026 22:48
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Cavs center Jarrett Allen plays defense in the Cavs game 7 series clinching win 114-102 win over the Toronto Raptors Sunday night at Rocket Arena. . . Photo by Tim Shirer
