Allen ties playoff career high with
22 points as Cavaliers beat Raptors 114-102 to advance
[May 04, 2026]
By JOE REEDY
CLEVELAND (AP) — Jarrett Allen tied his playoff career high with 22
points and grabbed 19 rebounds as the Cleveland Cavaliers advanced
to the Eastern Conference semifinals with a 114-102 victory over the
Toronto Raptors in Game 7 of their series Sunday night.
Donovan Mitchell led the Cavaliers with 22 points and James Harden
added 18 in a series in which the home team won all seven games.
Cleveland, the No. 4 seed, will visit top-seeded Detroit on Tuesday
night in Game 1 of the second round. The Central Division rivals
split their four regular-season meetings.
“I think we’ve already moved on (to focusing on Detroit),” Mitchell
said on the court immediately after the final buzzer. “We understand
we won this game, but we play in a couple days.,”
Scottie Barnes had 24 points and nine rebounds and RJ Barrett scored
23 for the Raptors, who were in the playoffs for the first time
since 2022.
All-Star forward Brandon Ingram missed his second straight game with
a bruised right heel.
“We gave it all, everything we had today," Raptors coach Darko
Rajakovic said. "Our guys were awesome. We made it hard on them.”
Allen had 14 points and 10 rebounds, including five on the offensive
end, as Cleveland went on a 49-21 run during a 15-minute span over
the second and third quarters where it turned a nine-point deficit
into an 19-point advantage.
One of Allen's baskets during the third quarter was a fast-break
dunk after Max Strus stole the ball from Barnes to make it 74-59.
Cleveland was 17 of 33 from the field, including five 3-pointers,
during the run while converting seven of Toronto's turnovers into 14
points. The Raptors shot 6 of 23 and were 1 of 8 behind the arc.
The Cavaliers also had a 25-8 rebounding advantage during the spurt,
and converted 10 offensive boards into 14 points.
“They were scoring in transition, getting some offensive rebounds,"
Barnes said. “The offensive rebounds were giving them extra
possessions. That really hurt us, giving them momentum.”
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Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen (31) goes up for a dunk in
the second half in Game 7 of a first-round NBA basketball playoffs
series agaist the Toronto Raptors in Cleveland, Sunday, May 3, 2026.
(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Toronto led for most of the first half and had a
10-point lead midway through the second quarter before Cleveland
began its comeback.
The Cavaliers were down 47-38 with 2:58 remaining before going on a
11-2 run to close the half and tie it at 49. The Cavs were 4 of 17
on 3-pointers before Harden, Strus and Jaylon Tyson connected from
beyond the arc.
“Sam (Merrill) said this whole series, we haven’t closed out the
second quarter. We all took that to heart. We all looked at
ourselves and decided that now was the time to do it,” said Allen,
who had his 11th double-double in a playoff game. “I think the
defensive stops, rebounds and the offense is still shaky in some
areas, but I think when we rebound the ball and get stops, that just
translates to the offense so much better and transition and open
shots for everybody.”
Cleveland took the lead with nine straight points to open the third
quarter as Mitchell scored five and Mobley added four.
“In the first half, we were forcing it too much, driving down
tunnels and forcing it to the basket," coach Kenny Atkinson said.
“Sometimes you have to move the defense. We just kept hammering that
message.”
The Cavaliers are 6-5 in Game 7s, including unbeaten in five home
games. Toronto fell to 3-4 in Game 7 and 0-2 on the road.
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