{"id":717099,"date":"2026-04-24T11:55:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T11:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/717099\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T11:55:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T11:55:02","slug":"scottie-barness-double-double-carries-raptors-to-126-104-rout-of-cavaliers-in-game-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/717099\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottie Barnes’s double-double carries Raptors to 126-104 rout of Cavaliers in Game 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Scottie Barnes had a double-double as the Toronto Raptors routed the Cleveland Cavaliers 126-104 on Thursday in Game 3 of their first-round NBA playoff series.<\/p>\n

Cleveland leads the best-of-seven series 2-1.<\/p>\n

Barnes scored a career playoff high 33 points, including 13 in the third quarter, adding 11 assists and five rebounds in a masterful performance on both ends of the court.<\/p>\n

RJ Barrett of Mississauga, Ont., also hit a career playoff high with 33 points, adding five rebounds and five assists. He went 6 for 8 from three-point range.<\/p>\n

Backup centre Collin Murray-Boyles had 22 points, the most ever by a Raptors rookie in a playoff game. He pulled down eight boards.<\/p>\n

James Harden led the Cavaliers with 18 points, four rebounds and four assists. Reserve swingman Max Strus had 15 points on four three-pointers and Evan Mobley had 15 points, seven assists and six rebounds.<\/p>\n

Game 4 back in Toronto on Sunday<\/p>\n

Game 4 is back at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Raptors point guard Immanuel Quickley was held out for the third consecutive game as he recovers from a strained right hamstring. Ja’Kobe Walter started in his stead, getting two rebounds in 26 minutes of play.<\/p>\n

Barrett had 11 points in the first quarter, making all three of his three-point attempts in the period. Barnes added 10 as Toronto held a 31-25 lead after 12 minutes, even as Walter and starting centre Jakob Poeltl were without any points.<\/p>\n

\"TorontoToronto Raptors fans celebrate at Jurassic Park outside Scotiabank Arena during Game 3 of the first-round NBA playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Toronto on April 23, 2026. (Oksana Shtohryn\/CBC)<\/p>\n

It was also the first lead the Raptors had held in the series since Game 1’s first quarter.<\/p>\n

Strus made a big difference for Cleveland in the second quarter, making three of five three-pointers and a total of 12 points as the Cavaliers tied it 54-54 by intermission.<\/p>\n

Series will go at least 5 games<\/p>\n

Toronto’s shooting cooled off in the second quarter, going from 70.6 per cent on field-goal attempts and making all five of its three-pointers in the first quarter to 40.9 per cent on field goals and 1 for 5 on threes.<\/p>\n

Barnes hit a 16-foot jumpshot as time expired in the third for an 83-81 lead. It was his 31st point of the game, having already surpassed his playoff high earlier in the quarter.<\/p>\n

It was Murray-Boyles’s period, however. He had six points, three rebounds, a block and a steal in a little over six minutes of play time.<\/p>\n

Barrett drilled a 23-foot three-pointer with 5:41 left in the game to cap a tidy 7-3 run that put the Raptors ahead by 11, their biggest lead of the game to that point. Barrett skipped to centre court, flexing, as Cleveland called a timeout to regroup.<\/p>\n

The three-pointer gave Toronto a 96.8-per cent likelihood of winning the game.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers’ timeout didn’t slow the Raptors’ momentum, as they reeled off an 8-2 run when play resumed for a 17-point lead.<\/p>\n

Toronto didn’t look back after that, guaranteeing the series would go at least five games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,306,305,193,3846,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-717099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-cavaliers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cavaliers","10":"tag-cleveland","11":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","12":"tag-clevelandcavaliers","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116459558804006191","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}