Raptors failed to sustain their shotmaking in decisive Game 7

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Scottie Barnes was on the bench in foul trouble, Brandon Ingram was seen in the morning shootaround wearing a walking boot to protect a wonky heel, while Immanuel Quickley never played because of a hamstring strain.

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As hard as they played, as resilient as they were to push the favored Cleveland Cavaliers to the brink and as well as Darko Rajakovic and his staff coached, Toronto’s talent was too thin, its roster too compromised to win a Game 7 on the road in a home-centric series capped off by Sunday’s 114-102 result.

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And as well as RJ Barrett played throughout the series, he took the wrong time to produce his worst game.

Still great strides were made this season and even moreso in the playoffs, even if Toronto’s return to the post-season since Barnes’ rookie year ended in disappointment.

Remember, not many gave the Raptors any chance to win even one game. They overachieved in winning three games, were the beneficiaries of a favorable bounce and they competed hard.

So many encouraging signs emerged, but now comes the hard part of taking this team to another level.

It begins by surrounding Barnes with some shooters.

Roster decisions await, beginning with Ingram. Barrett’s post-season performance has shown he’s the better fit with Barnes.

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The Raptors showed they are at their best when playing fast and defending with a physical edge that would be hard to replicate over an 82-game schedule.

Youngsters Jamal Shead, Collin Murray-Boyles and Ja’Kobe Walter came of age in this series, but the two biggest winners amid the seven-game defeat were Barnes, who had moments of superstardom, and Rajakovic.

The Barrett story moved many, but his contract, which expires after next season, needs to be addressed knowing the Raptors’ salary is already inflated.

Shooting and size were the biggest areas of weakness throughout the season, two areas that ultimately led to their elimination Sunday.

Toronto would nail down the No. 5 seed, but its record against high-level opponents was not good.

The East will only get better and somehow the Raptors need to improve, which won’t be easy given the issues they must navigate.

When the series tipped off in Cleveland for the opening two games, the Raptors led by a total of six minutes.

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The series began to flip in the fourth quarter of Game 3 in Toronto when the Raptors dominated.

One of the turning points came in the fourth quarter of Game 4 when the Cavs blew an eight-point lead.

The next two games were coin tosses, the injury to Ingram having an impact in Toronto’s Game 5 loss coupled with a hobbled Barnes, the Raptors overcoming a poor fourth quarter in Game 6 before finally prevailing in overtime.

The Raptors could not have written a better script to begin the night, an underdog team that played freely and fearlessly. Their swarming, suffocating defence responsible for the many runouts and their shot-making as good as any stretch during the series.

What kept Cleveland in the game was its ability to get to the line where a combined 12 trips were made in an opening 12 minutes that saw Toronto lead 26-24, an advantage that could have been greater had the Raptors not endured a scoreless stretch.

All in all, it was as good a start as anyone could have possibly imagined with seven players involved in Toronto’s scoring.

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The start to the second quarter was equally impressive, the Raptors making shots from distance to regain their double-figure lead, the host Cavs playing with a heavy burden reflected in their shot hesitancy and penchant for turning the ball over.

While several players stepped up for the Raptors, Shead emerged as the best.

One of the night’s early adjustments made by Rajakovic was the decision to go small when the team’s only big in Poeltl picked up two fouls five minutes into the game.

Closing quarters has been an issue for the Raptors and it resurfaced in Game 7 when the Cavs began to defend with a Raptors-like intensity.

In a series decided by the smallest of margins, outside of Game 1, the teams were deadlocked at the break.

The one worrisome stat were the three fouls to Barnes. He picked up his fourth foul with 6:53 left in the period and took a seat on the bench. About two minutes later the Raptors were in a 13-point hole.

Following a timeout, Barnes was back in the game, turned the ball over on his first possession the Cavs parlayed into a breakaway dunk as the lead increased to 15.

A fifth foul played out on a loose ball with 1:53 left.

Cleveland’s sense of urgency reached a level where it became overwhelming.

No one will forget the Raptors’ compete level, but it’s now time to turn the page and watch how GM Bobby Webster manages the roster and trying to weigh Ingram’s presence during the regular season and sift through the sustainability of the handful of players who took their games to a different level.

fzicarelli@postmedia.com

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