TORONTO — Hey, Cavaliers. The Toronto Raptors just ripped your heart out of your chest and threw it into a blender.
RJ Barrett’s bounce might just lead to you being bounced out of the NBA playoffs way earlier than expected. Good luck in Game 7 as the future of your franchise hangs in the balance! No pressure, right?
Don’t feel sorry for the fourth-seeded Cavs, though. They put themselves in this position by failing to take care of business earlier in their best-of-seven first-round playoff series against the fifth-seeded Raptors.
The Cavs squandered a 2-0 series lead and thereby reduced their margin for error. Later, they held a 3-2 series lead, but, instead of eliminating the Raptors, they lost a certified heartbreaker 112-110 in overtime of Game 6 on Friday, May 1, at Scotiabank Arena.
Now the series is tied 3-3 as a winner-take-all Game 7 awaits at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, May 3, at Rocket Arena.
With 1.2 seconds left in overtime, Raptors guard Barrett made a wild game-winning shot giving serious only-in-Cleveland vibes. On Barrett’s 29-foot 3-pointer, the ball hit the rim, bounced at least as high as the shot clock and dropped through the hoop.
“Sometimes the basketball gods aren’t with you,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said.
A turnover by Cavs forward Evan Mobley with 10.9 seconds left — point guard Dennis Schroder’s pass to the big man went out of bounds after Raptors forward Collin Murray-Boyles poked it away — and a missed 3 by Mobley just before the final horn sounded sandwiched Barrett’s stunt.
“Damn,” Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell said, describing his reaction to Barrett’s miracle.
Last year, the Cavs never recovered from Tyrese Haliburton’s game-winning 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in Cleveland.
The Cavs were knocked out of the second round with a 4-1 series defeat at the hands of Haliburton and the Pacers. Also in the 2025 playoffs, Haliburton made a 3-pointer with a similar bounce to Barrett’s to send a game against the New York Knicks into overtime in a stunning Pacers comeback victory.
“We’ve seen that last year — Tyrese Haliburton,” Cavs point guard James Harden said. “It’s part of the game. Easily, the ball goes off the rim, we win a game, but it didn’t.”
Well, Barrett’s shot did go off the rim, but it also managed to crush the souls of Northeast Ohio basketball fans a split second later.
Only the home team has won during this series, and the Cavs dropped to 4-11 in road playoff games during the Mitchell era. By allowing the series to reach this point after winning Games 1 and 2 in Cleveland, the Cavs are flirting with disaster.
A Round 1 exit by a team with NBA Finals aspirations, especially after it traded for 11-time All-Star Harden in February, would likely trigger massive organizational changes.
Would Atkinson be safe? Who on the roster would return?
The Cavs have a chance to avoid blow-it-up mode, but even if they win Game 7 this weekend they don’t resemble a championship contender. Yes, the Eastern Conference is wide open, but the Cavs aren’t convincing anyone a deep run is in the cards.
Raptors starting point guard Immanuel Quickley (right hamstring strain) was ruled out for this entire series. Raptors All-Star forward Brandon Ingram (right heel inflammation) didn’t play in Game 6.
Although the Cavs have some players who are banged up, including center Jarrett Allen (right knee tendonitis) and shooting guard Sam Merrill (right hand/finger), they’re able to play.
Don’t be fooled by the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds, either. The Cavs and Raptors aren’t supposed to be virtually neck and neck. The Cavs used 41 different starting lineups in the regular season amid a bevy of injuries. They have enough talent to finish with a much better record than they did at 52-30.
And as the NBA’s only organization in the second apron this season, the Cavs have the league’s most expensive roster. Also, entering this series, Harden alone had more playoff experience than the entire Raptors’ nine-man rotation (173 games compared with 65).
The Cavs have their backs against the wall anyway, and their ability to quickly recover from Barrett’s devastating gut punch will be tested.
“If that ball bounces up, we’re having a whole different conversation,” Mitchell said. “But it didn’t, so now we’ve got to continue to muster up the same energy we’ve had and win at home.”
All signs point to the Cavs disappointing their fans this postseason. In reality, they already have by letting this series go to Game 7.
Nate Ulrich is the sports columnist of the Akron Beacon Journal and a sports features writer. Nate can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cavs lose heartbreaker in Game 6 but don’t deserve sympathy. Opinion
Reporting by Nate Ulrich, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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