Scottie Barnes scored 23 points as the Toronto Raptors rallied to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 93-89 on Sunday, April 26, tying the series 2-2 and forcing a Game 5 in Cleveland on Wednesday.
Brandon Ingram also scored 23 for Toronto in a game that featured poor shooting from both sides — both teams finished under 40 percent from the field — and a late swing that decided the outcome. Toronto led 38-36 at halftime, trailed by eight with five minutes left in the fourth quarter, then closed on a 17-5 run to seal the victory.
The result left the Raptors and Cavaliers level in their first-round matchup and moved the immediate focus to Wednesday’s Game 5 in Cleveland, where momentum and health will determine who advances in the updated playoff picture.
On the same night the San Antonio Spurs delivered the most emphatic turnaround of the opening round. San Antonio defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 114-93 to take a 3-1 series lead, outscoring Portland 73-35 over the final two quarters. Victor Wembanyama returned from a concussion that kept him out of Game 3 and finished with 27 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, four steals and seven blocks, while De'Aaron Fox added 28 points and seven assists. The Spurs’ 114-93 win was described as the largest playoff victory by a team that had trailed by 15 or more points at halftime, and San Antonio was scheduled to try to close out the series in San Antonio in Tuesday’s Game 5.
Elsewhere on April 26 the Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers 128-96 to take a 3-1 lead in their series, and the Houston Rockets defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 115-96. Later that night the Detroit Pistons were set to play the Orlando Magic at 8:00 p.m. ET with Orlando leading that series 2-1, the Oklahoma City Thunder were scheduled to face the Phoenix Suns at 9:30 p.m. ET with Oklahoma City leading 3-0, and the Minnesota Timberwolves were listed to play the Denver Nuggets at 10:30 p.m. ET with Minnesota ahead 3-1. These results and schedules feed directly into updated nba brackets and the path teams face in the first round.
The friction in these games is what makes the bracket volatile. Toronto’s comeback came in a low-efficiency contest — both teams under 40 percent — meaning the series is still a toss-up despite the Raptors’ win. By contrast, San Antonio’s rout came after a major halftime deficit; the Spurs’ ability to flip a 15-plus point hole into their most lopsided comeback of the playoffs shows how quickly a series can swing when a star returns to health.
The immediate question for readers and the teams is simple: who finishes first? San Antonio has a chance to end its series in front of its home crowd on Tuesday, while Cleveland and Toronto head to Game 5 in a series that could tilt either way. Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram leave Toronto heading into Cleveland with the kind of late-game lift that saved this matchup, and whether they can reproduce it will decide where each team sits on the next version of the Nba Brackets.
