Jarrett Allen dominated the paint and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Toronto Raptors 114-102 in a deciding Game 7, handing Cleveland a 4-3 series victory.
Allen finished with 22 points and 19 rebounds, becoming only the second Cavs player in postseason history with 20-plus points and 15-plus rebounds in a Game 7; LeBron James had done it May 27, 2018 against the Celtics. Allen also had two steals and three blocked shots. Donovan Mitchell added 22 points and James Harden scored 18 for Cleveland, while Scottie Barnes led Toronto with a game-high 24.
The numbers tell how the game flipped. Cleveland erased an early 10-point deficit to tie the game 49-49 at halftime, then opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run and outscored Toronto 38-19 in the period. Allen’s third-quarter burst — 14 points and 10 rebounds in the period — set the tone on both ends.
On the sideline and in the locker room, Allen was blunt about the approach: "I just wanted to show my teammates that we can win this game," he said. "Energy and effort, that's what I believe wins games." He tied that claim to tangible results: "If you do it on the defensive end, everything translates to the offense."
Context matters: this is Cleveland’s fifth straight Game 7 victory and the fourth time the Cavaliers have eliminated the Raptors in postseason history — Cleveland has now beaten Toronto in all four postseason meetings. The series produced an odd symmetry: the home team won every game, and Game 7 was no different.
The tension was real despite the final margin. Cleveland had to erase a double-digit hole early and could not simply rely on one run; the third quarter became a proving ground where defensive stops turned into offensive swings. Allen repeatedly stressed the small margin for error: "Every single possession, it means a lot," and later he added, "Every single possession means it could be the end of the season." Those were not platitudes — his 19 rebounds ended possessions for Toronto and extended them for Cleveland.
The result is straightforward: the Cavaliers won 114-102 and the series 4-3. Allen’s interior mastery in a winner-take-all game — and the supporting scoring of Mitchell and Harden — supplied both the volume and the defensive backbone Cleveland needed. If Game 7 defined the Cavaliers, it defined them as a team built on contested rebounds, interior defense and timely scoring, a combination that made the difference in this Raptors vs Cavaliers series.
