ARTHUR: It’s hard to believe in the Raptors now,
In the old days the Toronto Raptors could lose the first two games to LeBron James and tell themselves the series wasn’t over, because they hadn’t played at home. But then, they didn’t really expect to win those other times, not in their hearts. LeBron was the king. The Raptors knew.
And then the Raptors won 59 games, beat good teams, beat great teams. They tore the idea of themselves apart and put themselves back together and it was the greatest season in franchise history. They believed Cleveland was vulnerable, and that with enough Raptors pulling together LeBron could be had. They really believed it was different this time. And when the moment of truth arrived it was all made clear: There is only one LeBron, and the Raptors weren’t good enough. In Game 2, LeBron wielded the hammer of god and Toronto let him, and a Raptors team built on collectivity failed together. The Cavaliers won Game 2, 128-110, and Game 3 is Saturday night in Cleveland.
“One thing you have is pride,” said coach Dwane Casey. “To go into Cleveland and play for pride … tonight wasn’t us, how we normally play for long periods of time. We’ll find answers.”
This was perhaps the greatest player in basketball history tearing out hearts, and these Raptors will have to start combing through the ruins to see what can be salvaged. Toronto can tell itself it could have won either game in Cleveland in the regular season. It’s even true.
But they must know, now. The Raptors had blown Game 1 when they had a chance, before LeBron was his superhuman self, and it turns out they couldn’t afford it. After a half of no-problem offensive basketball for both teams, the Cavaliers simply devoured Toronto: 18 points in the first four minutes of the half, all scored or assisted by LeBron, after a 7-2 run to end the second quarter. It was a 52-26 run all told, punctuated by LeBron hitting three straight baskets, the last of which was fading away in the corner.
The Raptors had no answer. LeBron finished with 43 points, 14 assists, eight rebounds and the head of the Toronto Raptors on a pike.
“They’re a pretty good team, really good,” said LeBron. “They showed us throughout the regular season … for me personally it’s not about the opponent. It’s about my mindset.”
But he killed Indiana, too, and that went seven. When it started to go bad for Toronto in that third quarter, there was no saviour, nobody who could drag them out of it with sheer talent and will. Kyle Lowry has been the beating heart of this team for five years, and had 18 at the half. But he got dinged by a bad call on a first-half LeBron charge, and had three points after halftime. DeMar DeRozan, so terrific all year, so impressive in growing his game, remained a defensive target for opponents and finished with 24 points on 23 shots. Not good enough.
So with the season on the brink, who was left to save them? Jonas Valanciunas was getting run off the floor again, Serge Ibaka was a clattering boneyard — “Serge hasn’t been himself,” said Casey — and even OG Anunoby, who might not blink alone in a room with a tiger, looked shook. All that led to Kevin Love killing Toronto again — 31 points — and demolition.
Casey was slow to react. The bench couldn’t save them. Nothing could. In the biggest moment they just failed, together. Part of it is LeBron. Once the game was all but out of reach LeBron just kept hammering, swishing shots while falling away from anywhere, as the crowd watched in admiring horror. It was like he was out there alone. In a way, he was.
But the Raptors watched it happen, and they paved the road to get here. In Game 1 they choked, panicked, lost the thread. This time they just flatlined. How do you fall apart like that?
“We need more effort,” said Lowry. “We’ve gotta play hard- er, somehow, some way.”
“I didn’t play good enough,” said Ibaka. “I didn’t play hard enough. I think that’s it.”
“We thrive off adversity,” said DeRozan. “We’ve been in tough situations, and sometimes tough situations bring the best out of you. First team to win four. We understand where we’re at, and we’re gonna fight.”
They didn’t play hard enough? A team that played so hard all year, and that’s what they found. From the start, it felt like no lead was big enough, because it wasn’t.
The Raptors had 63 points at halftime, then Ibaka caused a turnover in the first eight seconds for the second time in the damn game, and within minutes the season was crashing down around their ears. Before the game, with the biggest game in franchise history staring them in the face, Casey said, “I think we’re jaded here in Toronto because of our past with Game 1. But it’s one game. You’re not going to win the whole series in one game, you’re not going to lose it in one game.”
No, not one. The Raptors rebuilt everything, only to find it wasn’t as sturdy as they thought. Jaded, of course, is just another word for having enough experience that you’ve come to expect that it won’t go well. It means, after seeing enough things go wrong, that you have become used to disappointment. That, on this night, was about right.