Cavaliers finally pull away from Raptors in Game 7 to close out series, set up battle with Pistons
The Cavaliers took off in the second half on Sunday night to wrap up their series with the Raptors.
It took them a long time to find any separation whatsoever, but the Cleveland Cavaliers have finally closed out the Toronto Raptors. The Cavaliers pulled away in the second half on Sunday night to beat the Raptors 114-102 in Game 7, thanks largely to a huge third quarter outing. That officially gave them the 4-3 series win.
That sent the Cavaliers into the Eastern Conference semifinals for the third straight season, and set up a matchup with the Detroit Pistons in the next round. The Pistons beat the Orlando Magic to close out their series earlier on Sunday after initially falling into a 3-1 hole. Cavaliers finally put Raptors away After 26 quarters, the series between the Cavaliers and the Raptors had been about as even as it could possibly be.
The Cavaliers rallied every time the Raptors appeared to take a step ahead on Sunday night, and they mounted an 11-2 run to tie the game up by halftime. As the two teams entered the locker room, they had each put up exactly 718 total points and were each shooting 47% from the field at that point in the series. But finally, Cleveland made a move and started controlling the game in the third quarter.
Donovan Mitchell got them up by nine points early, and then Sam Merrill drilled a wide-open 3-pointer late in the period to push their lead to 12. They pushed it immediately after a Raptors timeout, too, after Max Strus picked the ball away from Scottie Barnes and tossed it up to Jarrett Allen for a breakaway dunk. That capped a long 25-10 run to start the period.