Barrett Sends Sixers Vs Celtics Into Game 7 With 3-Point Burst
RJ Barrett’s 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left in overtime sent sixers vs celtics to a deciding Game 7, and Toronto’s 112-110 win over Cleveland on Friday means the first-round series now goes back to Cleveland on Sunday night. The winner moves on to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Barrett’s Last Shot
Barrett, the Raptors guard, took the ball from the top of the key and buried the shot that kept Toronto alive. It hit off the back rim, bounced high above the backboard and still dropped through the net.
The sequence came with 1.2 seconds remaining in overtime, the kind of finish that leaves no room for a reset. Toronto needed every bit of it after the game reached the extra period tied 3-3 in the series.
Cleveland’s Home Court Test
The series has followed one clear pattern: the home team has won each of the first six games. That is the friction now facing Cleveland, which gets Game 7 at home after losing its chance to close the series in Toronto.
Donovan Mitchell had framed the Cavaliers’ approach this way: “Protect home court. It doesn’t matter if we lost by 30 or two, protect home court. That’s all you can do,” He gets that chance Sunday at 3:30 p.m. EDT on ABC.
Toronto’s Road Push
Toronto is trying to do something the road team has not done in this exact situation since Dallas in the 2022 Western Conference semifinals. The Raptors also have a familiar playoff reference point from 2019, when they won Game 7 of the East semifinals against Philadelphia on Kawhi Leonard’s four-bounce buzzer-beating winner.
Barrett set the tone for that next step after Game 6: “Kind of forget everything that’s happened so far. Got one game to decide it all,” He also called Cleveland “a tough task” and said Toronto is built for it.
The Cavaliers reached this same point in 2024, when they beat the Orlando Magic 106-94 in Game 7 to advance in the first round. Sunday’s winner gets the Eastern Conference semifinals, which begin Tuesday in either Detroit, Cleveland or Toronto.
