RJ Barrett did the Tyrese Haliburton.
And Haliburton noticed.
During Game 6 between the Raptors and Cavaliers on Friday night, the score was 110-109 as No. 5 seed Toronto, with its season on the line, scrambled on its potentially final possession at home against No. 4 seed Cleveland.
Scottie Barnes attempted to drive on Dean Wade, saw help from Evan Mobley and kicked it out to the Toronto-born Barrett near the top of the key. Barrett fired up a shot that hit back iron before elevating high in the air, dropping into the net with 1.2 seconds remaining, awarding Toronto a 112-110 lead, which held as the final score.
The shot was reminiscent of Haliburton’s Game 1, game-tying heartbreaker in New York against the Knicks in last year’s Eastern Conference finals.
“That looked familiar,” Haliburton wrote on X on Friday night.
In the game, Haliburton made what was initially thought to be a three-point shot, which would’ve given Indiana the victory, but instead tied the game at 125 each heading into overtime.
Despite getting a break with Haliburton’s foot being on the line, the Pacers won 138-135 in overtime, taking a 1-0 lead in the series, which jump-started their eventual 4-2 victory and trip to the NBA Finals, where they pushed the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder to Game 7, where Haliburton ruptured his Achilles.
With a chance to win the series, Cleveland had time for one final possession, but Evan Mobley was short on a 3-point shot, giving the Raptors the win to tie the series 3-3 to force a Game 7 on Sunday.
The winner of Sunday’s Game 7 will see the winner of another Game 7 on the same day, between the Pistons and Magic, in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Magic, with a 3-2 lead, led the Pistons 60-38 at halftime before suffering a historic collapse, where they missed 23 straight shots, 27 of their last 28 attempts, and scored just 19 second-half points en route to a 93-79 Detroit victory.
In the 112-110 win, Barrett — Toronto’s leading scorer in the series — finished with 24 points and four made threes with nine rebounds. Scottie Barnes (25 points) and Ja’Kobe Walter (24 points) — who started in place of the injured Brandon Ingram — also emerged for the scrappy fifth seed.
