Toronto – The air in the building was gone.
Deflating?
Picture a bunch of torn up balloons at a toddler’s birthday party. Like that. A blowout and scraps of tire scattered along the highway.
Early in the second half at Air Canada Centre the air was gone and dreams of 20,000 people were being suffocated.
The Cleveland Cavaliers started the third quarter like a team determined to end the Toronto Raptors‘ hopes of an Eastern Conference title and a franchise-first trip to the NBA Finals. For now and maybe forever.
It was premeditated. A hit job dialed up by The King.
“There’s certain times – seeing ’Bron in shootarounds or seeing him in his preparation — when you know he’s going to have a big night,” said Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love, who did his part with a 31 and 12 night. “This morning, you could just sense it. He knew what was at stake. He knew us getting another one [in Toronto] was going to be huge for us, and he came out and played that way from the jump tonight. Like I said, you could just sense that he was going to have a special night.”
Special for him. For the Raptors it was a nightmare that keeps happening over and over again. Their 128-110 loss in Game 2 of their second-round Eastern Conference series the most frightening episode yet as now they must go into the haunted house that is Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland – where the Raptors have only ever been blown out in the playoffs – and somehow convince themselves they can even avoid being swept in back-to-back years, let alone extend the series.
As it is their playoff losing streak to the Cavs stands at eight games. Can Toronto turn around and win four of the next five?
Meh.
“We thrive off adversity, every single guy on this team, we thrive off adversity,” said DeMar DeRozan, who had 24 points but was consistently and successfully targeted by the Cavs defensively. “We’ve been in tough situations before, and sometimes when you’re put in tough situations that’s what brings the best of you. That’s what point we’re at now. And like I said, it’s the first team to win four. We understand where we at, and we’re going to fight.”
OK then. They didn’t put up much of one in Game 2. Asked what the Raptors could have done better as the game and the series was slipping away from them in the second half and Kyle Lowry [who had 21 points and eight assists but only three points in the second half] was blunt:
“We need more effort, way more effort. Yeah, we gotta play harder. Somehow, some way.”
He could have said play smarter and maybe a collective talent transplant would have helped too.
There was some question whether the Raptors – even as the No. 1 seed and the betting favourite – could slay the LeBron James dragon when he starts his post-season fire-breathing routine.
But there was never any argument the series would be tougher, tighter, more competitive than in the past.
Who knows if it will be but it might have been had the Raptors not strayed from the game plan so regularly in Game 1 and left James’ assistants so many easy looks from three.
“Game 1 set this up,” said Casey. “We know it was gonna be tough, them coming out, they were gonna be fired up trying to put their foot on our neck.”
And it might have been in different in Game 2 had Serge Ibaka – 12 minutes, 0-of-5 from the field – even hinted that he was interested in competing. The big man from Congo has been awful since Game 2 of the first round and is looking like a significant miscalculation by Raptors president Masai Ujiri who traded a first-round pick to get the pending free agent and then signed him to an above-market three-year deal worth $65 million this past summer only to watch him calcify in public.
And it might have been different if Casey had a better feel for the game getting torn from his hands.
The game’s brightest moment was midway through the second quarter when the Raptors all-bench unit was looking like its old self, picking up from the starters who – thanks to a 19-point first quarter from Lowry and DeRozan – had helped the Raptors out to a 29-26 lead after 12 minutes.
A three-pointer by Fred VanVleet built on some solid work by Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam as the bench/starters hybrid unit pushed the Raptors lead to nine with 4:53 to play.
The Raptors were rolling, sort of. But Casey trickled in C.J. Miles (for VanVleet) and – shockingly – Ibaka for OG Anunoby to end the half and the Cavs came on.
James found Love for an alley-oop and another layup and then Love found James for a layup and in a matter of minutes the Raptors’ cushion was gone and they were lucky to go into the half leading 63-61.
The Cavs could smell blood.
“We just came out with a sense of urgency [knowing] what was at stake,” said Cavaliers head coach Ty Lue. “I thought we did a great job of closing the half and we closed the half so good we wanted to come out and establish something early in that third quarter.”
What they established was that they may simply be too much for the Raptors. Too good. The leased space they have in Toronto’s collective consciousness remains paid in full.
In the space of six minutes after the half the Raptors went from a two-point “we’re fine, we’re fine” lead to a “why is this happening to us again” third-quarter power surge that left the Raptors trailing by 11 with 18 minutes left in the game. The Cavs kept the gas on and were up 18 with 10 minutes to play. You could hear the scary music. It was right there in the Raptors’ heads.
This was like falling down a deep well with everyone watching but not a length of rope in sight. Helpless.
Casey among them. Bringing back Ibaka to start the second half was a mistake and going small to match up against the Cavs’ Love-centred lineup was one too given Love punished the Raptors small forward in the post without mercy.
Casey didn’t come back with Valanciunas, who had dominated Love in Game 1. He didn’t try Poeltl, who had a strong first half. Even breaking glass and trying Lucas Nogueira would have been viewed favourably given the trajectory of things.
“We were searching,” said Casey. “Serge wasn’t having his usual game, he was struggling. So we were searching, just trying to find somebody, something to get faster, get some more points on the board in that situation. Normally, we respond to those situations. Tonight [we] didn’t.
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Ibaka lost the ball out of bounds seven seconds after the second half started and things got worse from there. J.R. Smith had a three-point play set up by James and Kyle Korver hit a three from James – so much for the Raptors’ mission of not letting Cleveland’s peripheral players beat them – the Cavs had five players in double figures.
Cleveland was off on a 26-12 run that defined the game, likely sealed the series and could ultimately determine the future of this Raptors era.
Same old Raptors? Yes in the sense they can’t beat James, who finished with 43 points and 14 assists and was so comfortable on offence in the second half he started experimenting with shots, trying to find a challenge. He made only one turnover. The Cavs made just three. The Raptors were never a factor defensively as they shot 59.5 per cent from the field and 42.3 per cent from three.
The math is obvious. Bad enough the Raptors gifted Game 1 to Cleveland in the comfy confines of the ACC on Tuesday. Now they’re facing going on the road to slay their Cavaliers demons, down 0-2.
Toronto has lost five straight playoff games at Quicken Loans Arena, none close.
You feel for them really. Their intentions are good, their efforts hard to fault. But James is immovable for them and who knows when he ever will be.
The Raptors are halfway to being sent home by the Cavs for the third straight year, but this time in an even more heartbreaking way than ever before, if that’s even possible.
For a moment between the end of the first round and the start of their return engagement with The King, the Raptors stood as favourites. It was never easier to imagine them elevating themselves to new heights, moving past their nemesis, beyond their history.
So much for that.
The story never changes. LeBron James writes the script.
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