The Toronto Raptors fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the opening round of the NBA playoffs.
The Toronto Raptors’ 2026 NBA season is over. Falling in Game 7 to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, Toronto came up short after a hard-fought series. Shorthanded for all seven games, Toronto was without its starting point guard Immanuel Quickley. Things got worse for the Raptors health-wise when Brandon Ingram went down with an injury and was limited to just five of the seven games. He also did not look like himself in the games that he did play, averaging just 12 points on 32.8% from the field.
Despite all of this, the Raptors fought hard, pushing a Cleveland team with championship aspirations to the brink of elimination. Game 7 followed a similar script to several others in this series, as defense ultimately won the day. While the 114-102 final score was higher than other games in this series, the box score shows how difficult it was for each side to get their offense off.
For Toronto, RJ Barrett shot just 9-for-25 from the field in 43 minutes of action. Cleveland did a good job funneling the ball to Jamal Shead, who despite his impressive defense, struggled with his shot throughout this series and went just 5-for-16 in the deciding Game 7.
Things weren’t much easier for Cleveland offensively, as Donovan Mitchell shot just 9-for-20 from the field, and James Harden managed just three made field goals. While Harden got to the line 13 times, converting on 11 of them, he finished with just 18 points.
Speaking with reporters after the game, Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković shared his immediate thoughts on this game and overall fight Toronto had while shorthanded.
“I thought we gave it everything we had today,” he said. “The guys were awesome. We were fighting for every possession, for everything on the floor. We made it really hard for them — that was not an easy game for them to win.”
Rajaković added, “Congratulations to Cleveland. I have a lot of respect for Kenny and a lot of respect for that roster — amazing players. We wish them all the best in the next round. We were close. We had our opportunities and our chances. There’s going to be a lot to reflect on and a lot to improve on moving forward.”
There is a lot to be proud about for the Raptors, as they did well to even secure the fifth seed having teetered on the edge of the Play-In Tournament for a good portion of the year. But even with the injury context, a first-round exit is definitely disappointing for a group that felt they had a potential deep run in them, especially given the current state of the Eastern Conference playoff landscape.