In the wake of dispiriting tragedy the first questions that often get asked are: “How did this happen?” and “Why did this happen?”
These queries can be difficult to answer.
For the Toronto Raptors’ debacle of a Game 2 performance against the Cleveland Cavaliers, however, it can all be explained by looking at a single four-minutes and 25 second-stretch between the second and third quarter.
Here’s a deeper dive into the 4:25 that doomed the Raptors in Game 2 and, potentially, the entire series.
Something bad this way comes
2nd quarter, 2:05: Kyle Lowry restores an eight-point advantage for the Raptors by converting two of three free throws after getting fouled on a three-point attempt.
Bolstered by a strong effort from their second-unit players, it looked like the Raptors would surely finish the half strong.
Then it all came crashing down.
On the ensuing Cavaliers possession, spiritual owner of Toronto, LeBron James, got the ball on the wing with C.J. Miles guarding him. James tried to drive to the basket, but Miles actually did a sound job and blocked his layup attempt. Unfortunately for the Raptors, the ball trickled out and landed in the hands of Cleveland point guard George Hill, who picked it up and converted an and-one basket.
At least, that’s what the call on the floor was.
There’s no disputing the fact that DeMar DeRozan fouled Hill on the play, but did he get it up in time for the basket to count for the and-one before the shot clock expired?
Official video review confirmed the original call on the floor of no shot-clock violation, but it’s still very close.
Had the play been ruled a shot-clock violation, Hill would’ve still been at the line shooting two because the DeRozan foul put the Raptors in the penalty, but that’s still better than giving up a three-point play.
Something bad was brewing here for Toronto.
The momentum turns
2nd quarter, 0:45 mark: Coming across in semi-transition, LeBron James drives into the lane looking to pass to an open shooter in the corner.
Lowry – he of a league-best 37 charges drawn this season – jumps into a familiar position outside the restricted area and appears to draw yet another charge. Except, it was called a block.
An egregious call and one that earned Raptors coach Dwane Casey a technical resulting in a potential three-point play.
In the end, Kevin Love ended up converting the technical free throw while James missed both of his free throw attempts. Regardless of the missed points, the damage was already done.
The call seemed to have completely tilted things in Cleveland’s favour from there, when the right decision on the floor could’ve helped shore up Toronto’s spirits and steel them for the coming tide.
It wasn’t to be, though. Love’s free throw made it a two-point game, and even though DeRozan got it back to a four-point advantage in the next possession, James added the punctuation to the end of a momentum-shifting second quarter.
Just like how DeRozan threw that ball away in frustration at the end of the first half, you could sense the Raptors were on the verge of throwing the game away.
The beginning of the end
3rd quarter, 11:38: Serge Ibaka, who was invisible for the Raptors, kicks off the second half by turning the ball over.
On the next play, DeRozan, perhaps still thinking about that ball he nearly chucked into the stands at the end of the second quarter, is left in the dust by J.R. Smith who glides in for a far-too-easy layup.
In the process, DeRozan fouls Smith while chasing him down after losing him. And one. Cavaliers lead 64-63.
From there the sense of dread in the building was almost tangible. A missed Ibaka baseline jimmy from 15 feet, a James pull-up in OG Anunoby’s eye from 22 feet, a botched DeRozan layup and then – in a sign of the universe’s absolute disgust with the Raptors – a charge call on Lowry with Love stepping up in nearly the exact same spot the Toronto point guard was at earlier.
What else can you do but laugh, right?
We The Extinct?
3rd quarter, 10:20: The Cavaliers come right down and catch the Raptors napping, running Kyle Korver off a screen to set up an open triple from the top of the arc. He drills it with ease to cap an 8-0 Cleveland run to start the quarter. That’s when Casey took a timeout to try to stop the bleeding.
Cavaliers 69, Raptors 63. Might as well have been game over.
There was, of course, a lot more to go in the game — including a James shooting clinic — but that Korver triple was akin to the meteor that created the Chicxulub crater approximately 66 million years ago, wiping out the dinosaurs.
Granted, the Raptors aren’t officially done yet, but going down 0-2 with the next two games in Cleveland, extinction is nigh.
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