By ASSOCIATED PRESS
CLEVELAND (AP) — Jarrett Allen tied his playoff career high with 22 points and grabbed 19 rebounds as the Cleveland Cavaliers advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals with a 114-102 victory over the Toronto Raptors in Game 7 of their series Sunday night, May 3.
Donovan Mitchell led the Cavaliers with 22 points and James Harden added 18 in a series in which the home team won all seven games.
Cleveland, the No. 4 seed, will visit top-seeded Detroit on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the second round. The Central Division rivals split their four regular-season meetings.
Scottie Barnes had 24 points and nine rebounds and RJ Barrett scored 23 for the Raptors, who were in the playoffs for the first time since 2022.
Allen had 14 points and 10 rebounds, including five on the offensive end, as Cleveland went on a 49-21 run during a 15-minute span over the second and third quarters where it turned a nine-point deficit into an 19-point advantage.
Toronto led for most of the first half and had a 10-point lead midway through the second quarter before Cleveland began its comeback.
The Cavaliers were down 47-38 with 2:58 remaining before going on a 11-2 run to close the half and tie it at 49. The Cavs were 4 of 17 on 3-pointers before Harden, Max Strus and Jaylon Tyson connected from beyond the arc.
Cleveland took the lead with nine straight points to open the third quarter as Mitchell scored five and Mobley added four.
Meanwhile, Cade Cunningham had 32 points and 12 assists, Tobias Harris added 30 points and the Detroit Pistons beat the Orlando Magic, 116-94, in Game 7 to win a playoff series for the first time in 18 years.
Cunningham averaged 32.4 points for Detroit, which last won a postseason series by beating Orlando in the second round in 2008. The Pistons advance to play the winner of Sunday night’s Game 7 between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors. Game 1 will be Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena.
“We were pushed to the limit,” Cunningham said. “And it made us really reflect on how we were playing, what got us to this position and what made us win as many games as we won in the regular season. And it got us back to playing the basketball that we knew we were capable of.”
The Pistons became the 15th team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 deficit and the second in the last two nights, after the Philadelphia 76ers came back to eliminate Boston.
“I mean, it’s expected,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of his team’s resiliency. “And that’s the amount of belief that we have in this group. This is a special group. And you can’t count us out. No matter the circumstances, no matter the situation, I like our chances to fight our way back.”
They trailed by 24 points in Game 6 in Orlando before rallying to take the series at home. Orlando only scored 113 points in the final six quarters of the series — an average of 18.8 per period.
Cunningham and Harris became the first Pistons teammates to score 30 points in a playoff game since Bob Lanier (33) and Howard Porter (30) against the Golden State Warriors on April 17, 1977.
