SIMMONS: Raptors ran out of bodies, then time, in Game 7 versus Cavaliers

5 days ago 19

Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett couldn't will Toronto to series victory over Cleveland's highly paid roster

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Published May 03, 2026 • Last updated 10 minutes ago • 4 minute read

Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes (4) is fouled by Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, right, in Game 7 of their playoff series in Cleveland on May 3, 2026. Sue Ogrocki/AP

Scottie Barnes could only be himself. He couldn’t be two other players.

He couldn’t be Superman when the Raptors needed him to be something out of the action movies, something not physically possible.

RJ Barrett could only be himself. He couldn’t be two other players.

He couldn’t make the impossible shots any longer. He couldn’t play three positions at once.

The Raptors ran out of time and bodies and possibilities in Game 7 of the best-of-seven series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Raptors may have had the best players in this first round NBA series — but what they didn’t have in the end was enough of a team, with $72 million US worth of overpaid starting players sitting and watching from the sidelines.

Could the Raptors have played any better against the Cavs over Game 7, could they have played any harder and with more intensity? Probably not. They gave just about all they could give. They lost this playoff series with honour and with pride.

Raptors undone by lack of depth

The depth issue was obvious in Game 7, especially obvious in the final three minutes of the first two quarters. The Raptors looked like the better team late in the first and second quarters and early in the third in Game 7. Cleveland outscored Toronto 12-4 at the end of the first quarter and 11-4 at the end of the second quarter. The third was just a blowout for the Cavs: The discrepancy in play in the third quarter decided the series.

When the second half began after 27 quarters through six games, the cumulative score in the series was 718-718.

Can any basketball series be closer than that?

Barnes was the best player in the series, but there is no real reward for singular play at all. That reward may come next year or the year after that. This wasn’t just a large breakout season of sorts for Barnes. This was a large season followed by a dominant kind of playoff round and a realistic hope for the future.

If he didn’t completely know it before, he knows now who he is and where he stands in the NBA. He’s a difference-maker. It wasn’t his scoring that stood out in the series, strong as it was. It was his offence, his defence, his leadership, his physical strength, his difficulty to play against. His complete game.

Barrett exceptional during series

This is really just the beginning of the Barnes story as a Raptor. He’s there with the best in the Eastern Conference as players, able to say this is his team with real meaning and context.

And you want next season to start tomorrow because you want to see what the next version of Barnes will look like.

The circumstances aren’t exactly the same for Barrett, who had an exceptional series for the Raptors. Almost every game prior to Sunday night seemed better than the one before it. The winning shot he hit in overtime of Game 6 at Scotiabank Arena was a Raptors shot for their ages. It was a Kawhi Leonard moment-light, just barely. But it’s a shot that will go down in Toronto sporting history: The kid from Mississauga hitting the winning three at home.

That means something, more than just theatrics. More than historical moments. It means he met the moment. And that’s so much what playoff sports is all about, no matter what league you’re playing in.

Kids pitched in, too

The magnificence of Barnes and Barrett was sadly balanced by the lack of health of the Raptors’ starting lineup. Point guard Immanuel Quickly did not play a game in the series. When the $40 million man, Brandon Ingram, came up light to start the series, he then injured his heel to end it. He was close to useless when he played and completely useless when he didn’t.

But the kids, some likely, some unlikely, made seven games possible. One night, it was Ja’Kobe Walter hitting shots and scoring big. One night, it was Collin Murray-Boyles doing a little but of everything. One night, Jamal Shead looked like a real NBA difference-maker. One night, Jamison Battle hit a pile of shots and A.J. Lawson took a charge or two.

That was more “one nights” than the Raptors could have realistically expected — and that, too, gives them hope for next year and the year after that.

You can’t play and you can’t win when part of your lineup is missing and the rest of it is kids. Coach Darko Rajakovic pushed this unit about as hard as it could be pushed. They barely hung with a large lead in Game 6 because they lost their legs and, in doing so, lost their breath and then the series.

This was a feel-good defeat, if there is such a thing. This was a hope-for-the-future kind of loss. This was a Raptors team worth cheering for, worth applauding, worth hoping that another round was about to be played.

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