CLEVELAND – Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett and the remainder of the Toronto Raptors were disenchanted but proud after getting bounced from the NBA playoffs.
Jarrett Allen had a double-double with 22 points and 19 rebounds to guide the Cleveland Cavaliers past Toronto 114-102 on Sunday in Game 7 of their first-round series. Barnes led the Raptors with 24 points, nine rebounds and 6 assists as Toronto fell to 0-11 in post-season games in Cleveland.
Barnes said that pushing the Cavaliers — whose US$392.4 million payroll, including luxury tax, was the best within the league this season — to Game 7 was something of a coming-out party for the young Raptors.
“We don’t really get that many national television games and we’re across the border, so people don’t really see it,” said Barnes at a post-game news conference. “We work hard, we fight. We will’t really do nothing for his or her opinion, but we just understand how we’re together.
“We’re going to fight, we’re going to work hard, we’re going to scrap.”
The Cavaliers will travel to Detroit on Tuesday for Game 1 of their second-round series against the Pistons. Detroit eliminated the Orlando Magic with a 116-94 victory in Game 7 of their first-round matchup earlier Sunday.
Barrett, from Mississauga, Ont., had 23 points, six assists and 4 rebounds. He also added three steals. Second-year guards Jamal Shead and Ja’Kobe Walter, each playing of their first-ever NBA playoff series, had 14 and 13 points respectively.
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Shead and Walter stepped in as all-star forward Brandon Ingram (right-heel inflammation) and point guard Immanuel Quickley (right hamstring stain) were each unavailable to play.
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“Guys just got here in and gave it their all,” said Barrett. “We’ve at all times had a next man up mentality, and I feel that we at all times believed that we could play at this level.
“This loss hurts, but I feel it also shows the remainder of the league, remainder of the world, what it’s we’re constructing here. Whenever you see the Toronto Raptors, you’re going to have a dog fight.”
It was a remarkably even series with the 2 teams each scoring 718 points through the primary 6 1/2 games but a woeful third quarter was Toronto’s undoing.
The sport was tied 49-49 at intermission however the Cavaliers reeled off an 11-1 run to begin the third for his or her first lead of the sport. Cleveland outscored Toronto 38-19 within the period, taking a 19-point lead into the fourth.
Allen had a double-double within the third alone with 14 points and 10 boards. That helped Cleveland outrebound Toronto 22-8 within the period, with 14 second-chance points. The Raptors had none.
Although Toronto outscored the Cavaliers 34-27 within the fourth it wasn’t enough to erase Cleveland’s sizable lead.
“I assumed we gave all the pieces we’ve got today,” said Toronto head coach Darko Rajakovic, who also congratulated the Cavaliers. “We were fighting for each possession. We were fighting for all the pieces on the ground. We made it really hard for them. That was not a straightforward game for them to win.
“We were close. We had our opportunities, the probabilities, and there’s going to be numerous stuff to reflect on and to enhance on going forward.”
Shead and Walter weren’t the one players within the Raptors’ youth movement that impressed within the series.
Rookie centre Collin Murray-Boyles finished Sunday’s loss with eight points, 4 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. He averaged 14.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.1 blocks per game in his first-ever playoff series.
“I need to say none of this really surprised me, but I’m just proud that folks got to see that and just how hard (Shead, Walter and Murray-Boyles) work,” said Barnes, who is simply 24 years old. “The time that they put in, all that arduous work, everybody seen it, so pleased with these guys.
“They fought to the tip. That is an incredible lesson for all of us.”
Most pre-season predictions by media outlets had Toronto winning fewer than 40 games and vying for a play-in spot. As an alternative, the Raptors earned a 46-36 regular-season record and the Eastern Conference’s fifth seed.
Many prognosticators also predicted Toronto could be eliminated by the highly touted Cavaliers in six or fewer games. As an alternative, the Raptors pushed Cleveland’s high-priced roster to the brink.
Rajakovic called Toronto’s season “an absolute success.”
“I’m really, really pleased with all the pieces that we were in a position to accomplish this 12 months,” said Rajakovic. “From developing our young guys, from our culture making the following step, from all of the things that we were controlling, all of the work that we put in, all of the connectivity that we had, and all of that resulted with the variety of wins that we had.
“Making it to the primary round of the playoffs, playing Game 7 over here on the road, I feel this was exactly what this team needed, and I feel that is going to set us up for numerous success in the longer term.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 3, 2026.
© 2026 The Canadian Press