Too much James! Raptors ousted from playoffs with 109-102 defeat
‘It just hasn’t worked out for us right now,’ said injured Toronto star Lowry
TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors approached the end with resignation. Too many injuries. Too much LeBron James. The Raptors still had a game to play against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Air Canada Centre on Sunday afternoon, and they talked about pride — and about having a chance, which was technically true. But they knew. “Everybody was saying, ‘Are they vulnerable?’ ” the Raptors’ Kyle Lowry said on Saturday afternoon, referring to the Cavaliers.
“They’re the defending champs for a reason. They have a goal. They have a mission, and that’s what they’re on. Good for them. We have the same goals. It just hasn’t worked out for us right now.”
The Cavaliers, who have been clinical in their pursuit of backto-back National Basketball Association championships, have yet to lose a game through two rounds of the playoffs.
Remember the collective hand-wringing over their haphazard play late in the regular season? The doubts about their defence? It all seems so laughable now. On Sunday, the Cavaliers completed a four-game sweep of the Raptors in the Eastern Conference semifinals with a 109-102 victory, which earned them that most coveted playoff commodity: Several days of rest.
By dismantling their first two opponents, the Cavaliers are conditioning themselves to be even more fearsome as the postseason marches on.
They treated the Raptors and the Indiana Pacers, whom they defeated in the first round, like pinatas.
Back at their training compound in suburban Cleveland, the restorative powers of the massage table and the cold tub await them.
Rest and recovery are James’ two best friends at this stage.
On Sunday, he cluttered the box score of the 207th playoff game of his career with 35 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists. He is 32. Neither the Pacers nor the Raptors were capable of stopping him, or even slowing him.
Up next for the Cavaliers: the Boston Celtics or the Washington Wizards, who are still slugging it out in the conference semifinals.
“I guarantee you, every team’s thought process is: Let’s figure out a way to get past LeBron, and we can play for a title,” said the Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan, who compared the challenge to the Sisyphean task facing opponents of the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls.
“As competitors, you want to be in these moments and measure yourself and be able to compete and see. It’s tough. It’s extremely tough. But I wouldn’t want to go against nobody else to make it easy.”
Several teams out west can at least commiserate with the Raptors. As the NBA edges toward its conference finals, the playoffs are again shaping up as a glorified stage for the Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors, who have combined for 15 wins (and counting) without a loss. Everybody else has been background noise.
Nobody would be surprised to see the Cavaliers and the Warriors back in the NBA final for the third straight year. Both are doing what they can to eliminate wear and tear through the opening rounds.
Last season, the Warriors endured every challenge that the playoffs could deliver. Stephen Curry injured his knee in the first round. His team needed seven games to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder in the conference final.
Facing the Cavaliers in the NBA final, the Warriors built a three-games-to-one series lead before collapsing. They looked spent by the end.
James toyed with the Raptors. In the second half of Game 3, for example, he lofted a series of runners with his left hand — his off hand.
It appeared as if he were doing it just to challenge and amuse himself, to make a lopsided series more interesting.
He was a big cat pawing at a mouse.