Raptors public address announcer Herbie Kuhn never had to yell “HORN!” because of a power fuse failure disabling
the shot clocks. Other than that, the Raptors’ 2016 post-season run, ended by Cleveland on Friday night, had a bit of everything:
- Kyle Lowry had a total crisis of confidence and there was a debate about whether he quit on his team.
- DeMar DeRozan and Alex McKechnie, the Raptors’ director of sport science, proved the medical value of a red shoelace.
- Thirteen different players were in Dwane Casey’s rotation at different points, including human emoji, Lucas
“Bebe” Nogueira. - An online poll on an American web site became fodder for the attention-seeking Mayor of Toronto.
- Dwyane Wade nearly started a border war
- Cory Joseph and DeMarre Carroll went to a casino.
With all of that going on, the Raptors played 20 games that alternated between beautiful and ugly. They delivered performances that were pristine one night, and wretched the next. Aside from the raucous Air Canada Centre crowd, almost nothing remained static since mid-April. Here are the highlights and lowlights from the last last six weeks:
PLAY OF THE PLAYOFFS
Kyle Lowry’s halfcourt heave
With Hassan Whiteside at the free-throw line and the Miami heat up by two points in the final seconds Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals, I turned to CBS Sports’ James Herbert, sitting beside me, and predicted something magical: Whiteside would hit the next free throw, and Kyle Lowry would hit a bomb of a shot to send the game into overtime.
Lowry was having as poor as a game as he could possibly have, and redemption did not seem to be on the menu that evening. Whiteside indeed hit the second of two free throws, and the inbound pass went to Lowry, who almost let the ball bounce too far, nearly causing him to step out of bounds. Lowry grabbed the ball, dribbled to almost half-court and launched a shot. Of course, it found only mesh. If the Raptors had managed to play semi-coherent offence instead of folding in overtime, Lowry’s shot might have shone brightest. Still, for a brief moment, Lowry did something miraculous, best captured by Dwyane Wade’s reaction:
BEST INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE
Kyle Lowry versus Miami, Game 7
Vince Carter scored 50 points in a playoff game, which is why this is not said lightly: This was the best performance in Raptors franchise history.
Lowry took what the defence gave him, with an emphasis on “took.” His effort was an aggressive act. The Heat dared him to shoot, and Lowry knocked in five of his seven 3-pointers. When the Heat adjusted, Lowry adjusted, managing 11 free-throw attempts. In all, he finished with 35 points (on just 20 field-goal attempts), nine assists, seven rebounds and four steals, keying the team’s most complete performance of the post-season. Among other things, Lowry was an ace in transition, making the right decision every time down the floor. Lowry had several other performances against Miami that could compete for this honour, while the performances of DeMar DeRozan and Bismack Biyombo in Game 3 against Cleveland and DeRozan and Lowry in the next game could qualify, too.
WORST INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE
DeMar DeRozan versus Miami, Game 4
With Lowry in foul trouble, DeRozan’s deficiencies and injury were on full display. The Heat defence was able to key in on DeRozan, and he looked woefully unable to use that aggressiveness against them. His thumb injury meant he had trouble dribbling into traffic. He came back into the game only once Lowry received his sixth foul, and Cory Joseph was the Raptors’ primary late-game option, not DeRozan. DeRozan missed 13 of the the 17 field goals he took, and three of the four free throws, turning the ball over three times and and assisting on no baskets. Both DeRozan and Lowry had some high-leverage clunkers, but this was the worst of them all.
BEST GAME
Game 4, Cavaliers at Raptors
The Raptors’ performances in the first two rounds were so uneven that there was little opportunity for a classic of the game. Even the best of them, the Game 5 comeback against Indiana, featured a brutal half from the Raptors. This contest wasn’t Cleveland’s best outing — they shot just 3 for 22 from
3-point range in the first half — but it turned dramatically in the second half. Cleveland’s shots started to fall, and the Raptors needed some excellent shot-making, from Lowry, DeRozan and Cory Joseph, to survive. The Air Canada Centre might never have been louder than when Lowry sealed the game with a layup in the final 30 seconds, putting to bed the 105-99 win.
WORST GAME
Game 4, Raptors at Heat
Miami shot 1 for 15 from 3-point range — and won.
This game featured exactly one method to any reliable offence: give Dwyane Wade the ball, and let him create. This was the nadir for the Lowry-DeRozan pair, as they combined to shoot 6 for 28 from the field with seven turnovers. Lowry had his usual impact elsewhere in the game, but fouled out in the final minutes, forcing an ineffective and clearly injured DeRozan back into the game. The Raptors’ regulation-ending play call for Terrence Ross was broken up by Wade, and Ross turned the ball over twice in a span of seconds in overtime to put the exclamation mark on the game. Wait — what is the opposite of an exclamation mark?
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
Dwane Casey’s experimentation
In the regular season, the Raptors coach was beholden to stability. Essentially, he did not change his team’s starting lineup unless he was forced to by injury. In the playoffs, he used six different groups, with only one— the switch from Jonas Valanciunas to Bismack Biyombo— directly caused by an injury.
More than that, he altered his lineups in real time in response to what was happening on the floor. Think: benching DeRozan in Game 2 against the Pacers (it worked) and him playing his two centres together in Game 5 against the Cavaliers in an attempt to slow down Cleveland on the glass (it didn’t). The team’s offence remained a frustration in the post-season, but considering the struggles of Lowry and DeRozan, it is remarkable that the Raptors got to the Conference Final. Casey deserves a ton of credit.
LEAST PLEASANT SURPRISE
Game 1’s: Still a problem
How many sentences that started with “The Raptors haven’t (insert accomplishment here) in 15 years” did the Raptors put to bed this year? ‘
With every win, it seemed like they killed another franchise trope. Alas, one remains. The Raptors lost Game 1 against Indiana 100-90, Game 1 to Miami 102-96 and Game 1 to Cleveland 115-84. As such, the Raptors fall to 1-9 all time in the first game of a playoff series. And yes, they have not won one in 15 years. On the eve elimination, Lowry was asked about the enduring lesson of this playoffs: “Win Game 1. Seriously. Win Game 1.” It sure makes things easier, not that the Raptors would know.
AMIR JOHNSON AWARD FOR MOST UNDERAPPRECIATED RAPTOR
Terrence Ross
The time is nigh to give up on Ross as a reliable two-way player, somebody who will be able to contribute on both ends for weeks on end. If he remains a Raptor, the three-year deal he signed in November will alternately seem like a steal and an albatross.
However, Ross is essential to the Raptors sometimes, his shooting a necessary ingredient when the world closes in on Lowry and DeRozan. That was clear in the Miami series, when his three-point gunning kept the Raptors alive in several games. His pair of steals in Game 7 of that series, were memorable, too. It is time to forget about the potential that Ross’s athleticism suggests and appreciate the very real utility that he brings.
QUOTE OF THE PLAYOFFS
“No I’m not, and I will never be. I’m never afraid of human beings. I always joke with Kyle, I’m afraid of
lions.” —Bismack Biyombo on whether he’s afraid of LeBron James.
A Toronto Star reader poll after Game 4 had Biyombo as the most valuable Raptor in the playoffs, which is provably untrue. He played fewer than 20 minutes six times in 16 games. However, the cult of Biyombo grew, particularly as he met James at the rim repeatedly against the Cavaliers. His rebounding, rim-running, shot-blocking and defensive versatility probably have priced him out of the Raptors’ plans. However, his finger-wagging, smiling and fearlessness were huge parts of making the playoff run so fun.
MOMENT OF THE PLAYOFFS
Norman Powell’s game-tying dunk, Game 5 against Indiana
Raptors fans chanting “Let’s Go Raptors” and “We The North” after their Game 6 elimination will linger, with James saying he had never experienced anything like it in the league.
However, Powell jumping the passing lane, stealing Monta Ellis’s pass to Paul George and going in for an electric one-handed dunk to tie Game 5 against the Pacers, helping to complete a staggering, out-of-nowhere comeback was probably the single-best moment in isolation of the post-season. After the game, Powell said he nearly lost the ball as he took off for the dunk. Heading into the play, it looked like he could do something spectacular.
In the middle, there was nearly a disaster. He wound up salvaging things, though. In that way, it was a metaphor for the last six weeks as a whole.