{"id":644174,"date":"2026-05-02T04:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T04:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/644174\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T04:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T04:16:11","slug":"nba-playoffs-game-6-winners-and-losers-magic-collapse-raptors-rewarded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/644174\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA playoffs Game 6 winners and losers: Magic collapse; Raptors rewarded"},"content":{"rendered":"

This was a pivotal night in the 2026 NBA playoffs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The slate on Friday, May 1 saw three potential closeout games, which meant that three series could have ended tonight \u2013 or the same three series could continue with decisive Game 7s.<\/p>\n

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The Eastern Conference featured two games, with the No. 8 seed Orlando Magic<\/a> seeking to knock out the top-seeded Detroit Pistons<\/a>, while the No. 4 seed Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> looked end the season of the No. 5 seed Toronto Raptors<\/a>. In the Western Conference, the Houston Rockets hosted the Los Angeles Lakers in a Game 6 showdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The night started with chaos, with the Pistons completing an improbable comeback. Conversely, depending on your perspective, the Magic fell apart in an epic meltdown.<\/p>\n

Here are the winners and losers from Friday night in the NBA playoffs:<\/p>\n

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NBA PLAYOFF BRACKET: Scores and schedules from all first-round series<\/a><\/p>\n

1 \/ 5<\/p>\n

NBA playoffs fans, dancers, cheerleaders and mascots bring the energy<\/p>\n

Moondog performs during the first quarter of game one in the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors at Rocket Arena.<\/p>\n

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1 \/ 5<\/p>\n

NBA playoffs fans, dancers, cheerleaders and mascots bring the energy<\/p>\n

Moondog performs during the first quarter of game one in the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors at Rocket Arena.<\/p>\n

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2 \/ 5<\/p>\n

NBA playoffs fans, dancers, cheerleaders and mascots bring the energy<\/p>\n

A member of the Cleveland Cavaliers Scream Team performs during a time out during the second half of game one in the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Rocket Arena.<\/p>\n

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3 \/ 5<\/p>\n

NBA playoffs fans, dancers, cheerleaders and mascots bring the energy<\/p>\n

Cleveland Brows player Myles Garrett riles up the crowd during the first half of game one between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Rocket Arena.<\/p>\n

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4 \/ 5<\/p>\n

NBA playoffs fans, dancers, cheerleaders and mascots bring the energy<\/p>\n

A fan waves a towel during the second half of game one between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Rocket Arena.<\/p>\n

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5 \/ 5<\/p>\n

NBA playoffs fans, dancers, cheerleaders and mascots bring the energy<\/p>\n

Fans arrive to watch warmups before game one of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs between the Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timberwolves at Ball Arena.<\/p>\n

WINNERSRJ Barrett’s miracle bounce in Toronto<\/p>\n

The Raptors had to scrap after blowing a 15-point lead in the second half, but guard RJ Barrett got the friendliest of bounces off the back rim<\/a> on Toronto\u2019s game-winning 3-pointer in overtime that extended the series to a Game 7<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With the Raptors facing a one-point deficit with 10.9 seconds left in overtime, Toronto inbounded the ball to forward Scottie Barnes, who brought it up the floor. Barnes faced a double-team when Cavaliers<\/a> forward Evan Mobley collapsed on Barnes in the paint, leaving Barrett wide open at the top of the key. Barrett hoisted a 3-point attempt that hit the back rim and then bounced high in the air, reaching to the top of the shot clock above the basket, before it fell through the net.<\/p>\n

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The shot gave the Raptors a two-point edge, and Mobley missed the would-be, game-winning attempt on the other end to give Toronto a 112-110 victory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The shot was reminiscent of another back-rim bounce from last season\u2019s playoffs, when Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton tied Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals<\/a> when his shot bounced high off the back rim.<\/p>\n

Cade Cunningham<\/p>\n

Once again, the Detroit Pistons<\/a> were carried by their All-Star and Most Valuable Player candidate. Cunningham dropped 32 points, 10 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists in another masterpiece. Nineteen of those points came in the fourth quarter. And as the Pistons started to overwhelm Orlando with their defense, Cunningham was an integral part in that, leading with effort and intensity.<\/p>\n

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LOSERSThe Orlando Magic may have just given away a chance at history<\/p>\n

This looked like a team that simply gave up. The Magic collapsed Friday night, blowing a 24-point lead before losing by 14. And with that, the Magic have now lost two consecutive closeout games and face a daunting Game 7 against the No. 1 seeded Pistons in Detroit. This was an epic implosion, one that feels insurmountable.<\/p>\n

During a span that stretched back to late in the third quarter, the Magic missed 23 consecutive shots. In the fourth quarter alone, they shot 1-of-20, which is a remarkably abysmal 5% (!). That followed a third quarter in which they scored just 11 points. They failed to crack 20 \u2026 in the entire second half. Their 19 points marked the lowest scoring second half in the history of the NBA playoffs.<\/p>\n

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The Magic entered the night looking to be just the seventh No. 8 seed in NBA history to topple a No. 1. Instead, it feels like Orlando just gave this series away.<\/p>\n

Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley<\/p>\n

If there were calls for him to be fired, they\u2019re only going to grow stronger. There were many people to blame for this colossal meltdown. The Magic were far too carless with the ball and lazy passes were sniped for easy steals. Shot selection devolved late in the game as did decision making and effort.<\/p>\n

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But Mosley enabled this collapse by failing to halt the avalanche. As Detroit ramped up its defense, the Magic shrunk. Mosley didn\u2019t do enough to call timeouts to stop the bleeding. His poor game management and inability to draw up plays to facilitate easier offense are the main culprits for this loss. As mentioned above, it may have just cost Orlando the series.<\/p>\n

Abysmal shooting quarters<\/p>\n

It was a bad night for a few teams, at least in terms of inept quarters. The Raptors, for example, scored 12 points in the fourth quarter of their game, which was tied for the fourth-worst period \u2026 of the night.<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s because the Magic posted quarters of 8 and 11 points \u2013 in the fourth and third quarters, respectively \u2013 and the Pistons scored 12 in the second period of their game.<\/p>\n

Then, about 45 minutes later, the Rockets put up just 13 in the second quarter of their game against the Lakers<\/a>, marking five quarters with teams failing to score 15 points.<\/p>\n

Across those terrible quarters, the teams combined to shoot 15-of-81, or an embarrassing 18.5%.<\/p>\n

Cavaliers effort<\/p>\n

This looks like a case where one team \u2014 the Cavaliers \u2014 has a better roster than the other. But it also has looked this series like one team \u2014 the Raptors \u2014 have simply put forth more effort than their opponent.<\/p>\n

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Cleveland has played well at points in the series, but it has also let lapses of concentration lead to turnovers that have let Toronto stay in games. Friday night, the Raptors scored 25 points off of 18 Cleveland turnovers, and the Cavs had the chance to ice the game when they had the ball with the shot clock off and a one-point lead.<\/p>\n

But a frenzied possession led to Mobley turnover when the ball was swiped out of his hands and off his body. That led to Barrett\u2019s game-winning 3.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Magic collapse; Pistons, Raptors prevail: NBA playoffs winners, losers<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This was a pivotal night in the 2026 NBA playoffs. The slate on Friday, May 1 saw three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,19704,17603,7214,7321,39603,7220,7232,590,13799,12985,16120,47078,16108,85,191551,17602,16319],"class_list":["post-644174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cade-cunningham","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-eastern-conference","tag-evan-mobley","tag-houston-rockets","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-nba","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-orlando-magic","tag-pacers","tag-rj-barrett","tag-scottie-barnes","tag-sports","tag-the-magic","tag-toronto-raptors","tag-tyrese-haliburton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}