The Cavaliers took a nail-biter of a Game 7 at Rocket Arena and turned it into a comfortable home win Sunday night, dropping the Toronto Raptors 114-102 to grab the series and advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals. Jarrett Allen owned the paint, and a massive third-quarter burst flipped what had been a late second-quarter deficit into a double-digit cushion that Cleveland rode all the way to the horn.
According to Cleveland.com, Allen piled up 22 points and 19 rebounds, with Donovan Mitchell matching his 22 and James Harden adding 18. Max Strus and Sam Merrill chipped in timely perimeter shooting that helped keep the Cavs’ surge alive, and Cleveland finished off a seven-game grinder in front of a raucous home crowd. Every matchup in the series went to the home team, and the Cavs made sure that trend held when it mattered most.
The Associated Press recap at ClickOnDetroit noted that Scottie Barnes paced Toronto with 24 points, while R.J. Barrett added 23 in the loss. AP also reported that Cleveland now heads straight to Detroit for Game 1 on Tuesday night, leaving the Cavs little time to catch their breath before the second round tips off.
Third-quarter surge turned the tide
Cleveland came out of halftime like a team that had no interest in sweating the final minutes. The Cavs opened the third quarter with nine unanswered points, and the frame turned into the game’s breaking point. They outscored Toronto 38-19 in the period, a run that effectively decided the outcome before the fourth even started.
Allen hammered away inside while Harden, Strus, and Merrill stretched the floor with outside shots, putting the Raptors on their heels and keeping them there. For those who want every possession and number from the clincher, the full play-by-play and box score are available via the CBS Sports gametracker.
What’s next
The Cavaliers now head to Little Caesars Arena to face top-seeded Detroit in Game 1 on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, according to local playoff schedule listings. It is a quick turnaround, so Cleveland will need to bottle the confidence from its second-half surge and carry it straight into the Motor City, where matchups and rebounding figure to matter just as much as offensive rhythm.
Allen’s 22-point, 19-rebound double-double delivered exactly the interior presence Cleveland has leaned on all season, and the Cavs will hope their supporting shooters can reproduce Sunday’s timely threes on the road. If Cleveland can control the paint and keep enough space for Mitchell and Harden to operate, it will roll into the Detroit series looking like a balanced, dangerous problem for the top seed.
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