{"id":645538,"date":"2026-05-03T18:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T18:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/645538\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T18:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T18:04:09","slug":"raptors-cavaliers-get-ready-to-face-off-in-game-7-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/645538\/","title":{"rendered":"Raptors, Cavaliers get ready to face off in Game 7 showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

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RJ Barrett’s fortuitous winning shot with 1.2 seconds left in Friday’s overtime reminded Toronto basketball fans of similar glory days in the NBA playoffs.<\/p>\n

Barrett’s 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’s Game 7 in the opening-round series at Rocket Arena in Ohio.<\/p>\n

For many fans, Barrett’s 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’s victory was thrilling but noted the focus quickly shifted to tonight’s win or go home showdown.<\/p>\n

“Got 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

WATCH | RJ Barrett shares his thoughts on last game’s winning three-point shot:\"\"<\/p>\n

‘If it goes straight up, you got a chance’: RJ Barrett on stunning basket clinching overtime win<\/p>\n

Mississauga, Ont., native RJ Barrett scored the game-winning basket in Friday’s overtime win for the Toronto Raptors. The 112-110 win forces a Game 7 in the playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.<\/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’s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 2 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-645538","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\/645538","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=645538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}