Raptors outlast Cavaliers with wild last-second 3 in OT, force Game 7

Atlantic76ersCelticsKnicksNetsRaptorsCentralBucksBullsCavaliersPacersPistonsSoutheastHawksHeatHornetsMagicWizardsSouthwestGrizzliesMavericksPelicansRocketsSpursNorthwestJazzNuggetsThunderTimberwolvesTrail BlazersPacificClippersKingsLakersSunsWarriorsScores & ScheduleStandingsThe Bounce NewsletterNBA DraftPodcastsFantasyNBA OddsNBA PicksLatest Mock DraftWhat Makes Up Championship DNA?Player Poll: Who is the MVP?Player Poll: Who Will Win Title?NBA Playoffs The Raptors' RJ Barrett celebrates after hitting the game-winner against the Cavs, forcing Game 7. Cole Burston/Getty Images Share article10The Toronto Raptors keep taking hits, but they refuse to drop. Down two starters going into a potential elimination game, the Raptors kept their season alive after RJ Barrett sank a miraculous 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left in overtime to secure a 112-110 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series Friday night. Toronto surged ahead with a 40-29 second quarter that hit a fever pitch when Scottie Barnes whirled his way to a fast-break dunk over Jarrett Allen for a 47-38 lead. Barnes swatted James Harden at the other end on the very next possession, and the Raptors took a 61-51 advantage into the break thanks in part to eight combined 3-pointers from Barrett, Jamal Shead and Ja’Kobe Walter. Shead and Walter have been the Raptors’ go-to replacements in the starting lineup all series, with point guard Immanuel Quickley missing all six games and Brandon Ingram scratched hours before Friday night’s tip. Walter reached 20 points scored for the second straight game, finishing with 24, while Barnes put up 25 points, 14 assists and seven rebounds, and Barrett added 24 points and nine rebounds. It appeared the Raptors would cruise to victory after entering the fourth quarter up 11 points, but Donovan Mitchell came to life with 13 of his 24 points in the frame, and Evan Mobley sank a sweeping left-handed lay-in with 11.6 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. All that did was set the stage for the carom heard ’round the world: A 3-pointer from Barrett with the Cavs trailing by one that bounced several feet off the back iron and through the hoop. Next up: a decisive Game 7 on Sunday in Cleveland. Here are some takeaways from a dramatic Game 6: Kawhi Leonard needed four bounces. Barrett needed just one. With the Raptors running out of gas, barely able to put together a coherent offensive possession, they needed two points to take the lead in overtime. Barnes was walled off, so he dished out to Barrett. His shot hit the back rim, hung in the air for a long while, and fell right through the mesh. “I know it was a half a second, but it looked like an eternity there to be honest with you,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. None of it would have been possible without Barnes, who had 24 points, 14 assists and seven rebounds in 48 minutes. He was just two days removed from a quadriceps injury that had him playing like a decoy in Game 5. Barnes has dragged this series back to Cleveland after putting together a game worthy of all the hype the Raptors have lavished on him over the last few years. In a series with five other former All-Stars, including Harden and Mitchell, Barnes has been the best player. It hasn’t been very close. With Quickley and Ingram on the sidelines, Barnes found a way to get the Raptors to the finish. The Raptors are 0-10 in Cleveland in the playoffs, where they will have to win Sunday to advance to the second round. They will be undermanned and rightful underdogs. But with Barnes, you can’t rule out the upset. — Eric Koreen There was absolutely no way a team with as many star-level veterans as the Cavs could lose this game. Of course, your mind goes to the ball that went off Mobley’s hands to set up Toronto’s last shot. All the Cavs had to do there was get fouled and make the free throws. But instead, they allowed themselves to be pressured. No one came to help Dennis Schröder, who threw it to a crowded Mobley just before he was about to be called for an 8-second violation. But this collective meltdown goes much deeper. The Raptors are missing two starters. And yet the Cavs stumbled through three quarters. Toronto had players in foul trouble. The players on the court were gassed. Cleveland even won the “possession battle” as coach Kenny Atkinson asked. Just show a little bit of poise over the final three minutes of regulation, or in overtime, and it’s win and advance. But they couldn’t do it, wasting a valiant comeback of 15 points in the second half and 11 in the fourth quarter. The team with the highest payroll in the NBA, the one that traded for Harden, now faces elimination in the first round. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms