R-J Barrett\u2019s fortuitous winning shot with 1.2 seconds left in Friday\u2019s overtime reminded Toronto basketball fans of similar glory days in the NBA playoffs.<\/p>\n
Barrett\u2019s three-pointer from the top of the key hit off the back rim and bounced high above the backboard before going through the net to give the Raptors a 112-110 victory and force tonight\u2019s Game 7 in the opening-round series at Rocket Arena in Ohio.<\/p>\n
For many fans, Barrett\u2019s clutch shot brought back memories of Kawhi Leonard\u2019s four-bounce buzzer-beating winner in Game 7 of the 2019 East semifinals against Philadelphia. The Raptors would go on to win the NBA championship.<\/p>\n
Barrett and his teammates said Friday\u2019s victory was thrilling but noted the focus quickly shifted to tonight\u2019s win or go home showdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cGot one game to decide it all,\u201d Barrett said. \u201cWe\u2019ve fought through the toughest of tasks all year long. So going to Cleveland is going to be a tough task, but that\u2019s what we\u2019re built for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Forgotten in all the Game 6 excitement was the Raptors being outscored 23-12 in the final quarter and coming oh-so close to being ousted.<\/p>\n
The physical Raptors are trying to become the first team since Dallas in the 2022 Western Conference semifinals to win a Game 7 on the road after the first six were won by the home team.<\/p>\n
The experienced and battle-tested Cavaliers are looking to advance past the first round for the third straight year. They are 6-2 in Game 7s, including 4-0 at home. Toronto is 3-3 in Game 7s and is playing its first one on the road since the 2021 conference semifinals against Philadelphia, which it lost 88-87.<\/p>\n
Both offences are averaging 111.5 points per game, the Raptors have shot slightly better (40.7 per cent to 39.8 per cent) and Toronto\u2019s defence has had a slightly better rating than the Cavaliers.<\/p>\n
Toronto forward Brandon Ingram remains questionable for tonight after missing Friday\u2019s game because of right heel inflammation.\u2028<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 3, 2026.<\/p>\n
The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"R-J Barrett\u2019s fortuitous winning shot with 1.2 seconds left in Friday\u2019s overtime reminded Toronto basketball fans of similar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-645094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}