TORONTO — Just thinking out loud here: Is it even possible to force a Game 7 the way the Raptors did, and then lose?
That is only one of the existential questions facing the Cavaliers this morning after RJ Barrett’s 3-point prayer clanged off the back of the rim, sailed toward the heavens like it was asking for direction, only to descend toward the exact part of the iron that would send the ball left, through the hoop, instead of right, toward defeat.
Raptors 112, Cavaliers 110, in overtime.
“Damn,” Donovan Mitchell said when asked what raced through his mind as he and the Cavs were stabbed, in slow motion, by the butter knife of Barrett’s shot.
“Sometimes the basketball gods aren’t with you,” coach Kenny Atkinson said.
Well, that’s true. The gods were slamming Molsons out on Raptors Way outside Scotiabank Arena. They’ll surely cross the U.S.-Canadian border for Sunday’s decider. Wearing which jersey? Who can say.
For the second time this series, the Cavs lost a game in Toronto they absolutely, positively, no doubt had no business losing. They recovered from their fumbled snap at the goal line of Game 4, when they were up 8 points with 4 1/2 minutes left and lost in part (but not solely) because Mitchell couldn’t get the ball past halfcourt. They returned home to win Game 5 and, momentarily, regain control of this series.
Now, the NBA’s most expensive team, a group with a collective record littered with supreme playoff disappointments, is trying to avoid another face-plant after tripping over its own two feet in Game 6.
All kinds of things went wrong for the Cavs to lose on Friday. They were outplayed for three quarters. The Raptors might be down two starters (Brandon Ingram and Immanuel Quickley), but it appeared that neither Barrett nor Scottie Barnes had any interest in being denied. Toronto was ahead by 15 in the third quarter and 11 at the start of the fourth, turning the Cavs over like they have for most of the series, frustrating Mitchell and James Harden like they have for most of the series and leaving viewers to wonder if Cleveland’s roster, loaded with talent, is the overrated, disinterested group it has at times played like in this series.
But the Raptors were also in foul trouble and running out of the energy that fueled them. Atkinson went back to Dean Wade with the rest of the starters at around the eight-minute mark of the fourth quarter, and, wouldn’t you know it, the comeback was on. The Cavs’ lineup of Wade, Mitchell, Harden, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen is their best lineup. Before Atkinson went away from it to start Game 5, that group was outscoring the Raptors by 44.9 points per 100 possessions.
“I think we tried a lot of stuff tonight, three guards, trying to find what clicks,” Atkinson said. “When we went back to that lineup, it was good for us.”
I’m not much for second-guessing coaches. If it’s your thing, you could start with Atkinson’s “throw it at the wall” approach to the rotation when the numbers are clear as to what has worked in this series. Yes, the Cavs lost Games 3 and 4 in Toronto when starting Wade, but that had more to do with the pressure applied to Harden and Mitchell. The Cavs’ argument is Max Strus alleviates the pressure on the two guards more than Wade, who can be just as effective coming off the bench. But Mitchell and Harden are still struggling to shoot, and still coughing up the ball with turnovers, when playing next to Strus.
You could ding Atkinson, if you want, for burning the team’s challenges in the first half. And, during the play that set up Barrett’s shot, for not calling timeout.
On that one, the Cavs were up 1 because of a missed free throw by Jamal Shead. The Raptors committed a foul, which allowed Atkinson to insert Dennis Schröder, a Game 5 hero and probably the fastest player in this series. Cleveland was able to get the ball to him, and the idea was for Schröder to sprint up the court and draw a foul. Except, Schröder had trouble getting past the Raptors’ pressure, and he was forced to throw a pass to Mobley along the sideline. Mobley had a defender, Collin Murray-Boyles, behind him; the Raptors’ rookie knocked the ball off Mobley and out of bounds with about 10 seconds left.
When Schröder was having a harder time getting the ball over the timeline than the Cavs anticipated, Atkinson could’ve stopped the action and set up a new plan.
“We’ve got our fastest guy with the ball, great free-throw shooter, trying to get it over half court,” Atkinson said. “To me, kid (Murray-Boyles) makes a heck of a play.”
Mobley insisted after the game that the ball did not go off him, although replays seemed to show that it did. Either way, the Cavs were long out of challenges, so the officials’ call on the court was final.
It should’ve never come to that.
A team with as many stars as the Cavs, facing an undermanned and tired Raptors team, should’ve been able to find a way to finish them off, either at the end of regulation or overtime.
Mitchell scored 11 in the fourth quarter and finished with 24 points, but shot 11-of-26, including 2-of-10 on 3s. Harden was 5-of-14 shooting for 16 points. Mobley was probably the Cavs’ best player Friday, finishing with 26 points and 14 boards. His desperation 3-point try out of the timeout after Barrett’s shot at the buzzer hit off the front of the rim.
“I don’t think Donovan, offensively, played well. I didn’t play well,” Harden said. “I don’t think it’s about that. The best players and stars aren’t going to score 30 every game. I think for us, it’s doing the things that’s necessary for us to win.”
I think Cavs fans from yesteryear, or team chroniclers who were around when there was a guy wearing a No. 23 jersey, might take issue with that quote. But Bron ain’t walkin’ through that door. He’s already into the second round, at age 41, with the Lakers.
Instead, it’s Cleveland’s new breed of stars who are left to try to vaporize the ghosts of Kawhi Leonard and Tyrese Haliburton, two big-time players with bouncing-ball Hail Mary shots that went in to push their teams toward the Finals.
I was covering the Knicks-Pacers Eastern Conference finals last year when Haliburton’s buzzer-beater bounced off the rim and fell through the hoop to force overtime against New York at Madison Square Garden in Game 1 of that series. To me, Barrett’s shot was more reminiscent of Leonard’s bouncing prayer to beat the 76ers in Game 7 of the conference semifinals in 2019, mostly because it was for the same franchise, wearing the same colors, in the same building.
Leonard’s was the first Game 7 buzzer-beater in NBA history. Barrett’s only set up a Game 7. The Cavs have to hope the old adage holds true, that momentum doesn’t carry from one playoff game to the next.
And they probably ought to hope, too, that Harden is wrong, and one of their stars scores 30 on Sunday.
Otherwise, the existential hammer may drop.
“The first thing I said when we came in (to the locker room) is we have to protect home court,” Mitchell said. “If I sit here and continue to sulk about that shot, then we are not prepared for what’s coming forward. That shot happened, they won, cool. We have to protect home court.
“It’s as simple as that.”
