It’s been the best seven years in franchise history and seven of the best years any franchise could have, as the Toronto Raptors grew up before our eyes and the team that was forever a day late and a dollar short starting cashing in, building a tradition, growing a fan base and making history.
But nothing lasts forever, even the Raptors’ reign as NBA champions, which is the longest in league history at 15 months and counting.
The clock is ticking on their time on the throne. The countdown began when Kawhi Leonard left in free agency, ending the Raptors’ dream state with a jolt — like a fall out of bed from a blissful dream.
This edition of the Raptors has struggled to keep the dream alive longer than anyone but themselves ever thought they could, squeezing out the NBA’s second-best regular season record by various acts of sorcery, it felt like at times.
So, it feels like blasphemy to suggest that the end might be nigh, even with the Raptors down 2-0 to the Boston Celtics, who have beaten them five out of six times this year and all three times they’ve met in Florida.
After all, when the buzzer sounded on the Raptors’ Game 2 loss on Tuesday, last year’s Eastern Conference Finals were front-and-centre.
Toronto had lost the first two games of its series to the Milwaukee Bucks and things looked grim.
Milwaukee was 10-1 in the playoffs to that point – shades of Boston’s 6-0 start this year — and the Raptors looked largely over-matched for much of Game 2 against Milwaukee.
But they were able to find some glimmers of hope: After falling behind by 28 points early in the third, the Raptors went on 28-13 surge to cut the Bucks’ lead to 15. It wasn’t enough, as Milwaukee still won going away, but there were positives that the Raptors were able to build from there.
Then, buoyed by their home crowd at Scotiabank Arena, Toronto survived double-overtime in Game 3 and then largely controlled Games 4, 5 and 6 to complete the improbable comeback and advance to the NBA Finals.
Can the Raptors repeat themselves? Even down 0-2, there are some footholds that they can use to pull themselves out of what seems like a deep, dark well.
The Raptors have had one of the NBA’s best defences all season, but looked like they weren’t trying in Game 1. For long stretches of Game 2, however, they looked like what they’ve been since the middle of the season: the best defensive team in the league.
From the end of the first quarter to the beginning of the fourth, when Celtics guard Marcus Smart caught fire from behind the three-point line, the Raptors held the Celtics – the NBA’s fourth-rated offense – to just 84 points per 100 possessions. The Raptors were stifling, and the Celtics couldn’t solve Toronto’s airtight scheme and frenzied effort.
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If wishes and buts were candies and nuts we’d all have a merry Christmas, former Raptors coach Sam Mitchell liked to say, but with their playoff lives on the line it only makes sense for the Raptors to focus on what worked and draw strength from that.
“I thought we were playing great there,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said. “I think we played our guts out. We gave everything we could give. At one end the guy’s making contested threes and the other end the threes aren’t going that were probably more open than they were at the other end. Then the ball doesn’t bounce our way a couple times, and you end up losing a tough one. I thought we played very well. I’m very proud of the guys … very proud.”
And hey, there’s no reason to expect the Raptors’ woeful three-point shooting to continue. They could just as easily go 40-for-80 from three over the next two games to normalize the 21-for-80 slump they’re in now. If that happens, the series will look very different.
But there is no minimizing the position the Raptors find themselves in heading into Game 3. Their dramatic comeback against Milwaukee didn’t come from down three games, after all, and for good reason – the next time an NBA team wins a seven-game series after losing the first three games will be the first time.
“Well I think we should know we shouldn’t give up,” Nurse said when asked what his club could draw on from their experience last year. “We know the next game is super critical, but they’re all critical. But we know this one’s super critical.”
Fall behind 0-3 and everything is on the table, as not only will Toronto will be fighting history and math, but human nature as well. The Raptors are about to start their 10th week in Florida and eighth week on campus at the Walt Disney World Resort.
Some players have had their families join them as of Monday, but several have opted not to, given that it’s not an environment well-suited for active young ones who are likely better off keeping up with routines at home, particularly with school starting. Coaches can’t have their families with them, and neither can executives or team officials either.
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The NBA has been universally praised for putting the bubble together and making it as palatable as possible, but the routine gets numbing after a while.
“One of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” was how one Day 1 occupant in the Raptors party put it to me.
All of which is to say that should the Raptors fall behind 0-3 not only will finding a way to come back be an almost impossible test, it’s one where failing comes with its own rewards: a chance to go home.
Win Game 3 and the Raptors are still fighting for something. Lose Game 3 and losing Game 4 rather than delaying the inevitable might not seem so bad.
The Raptors aren’t there yet, but should they get there, Pandora’s Box will be wide open. This is a franchise with its entire front office and coaching staff heading into the last year of their contracts, their iconic point guard heading into the last year of his deal and three of the remaining six players in their rotation heading to free agency.
Changes are constant in the NBA, but eras are rare.
If the Raptors can find a way to get the series to 2-1, then all that will matter will be Game 4.
If they can’t, Game 4 could matter in an entirely different way: it could be the last game of the best years the Raptor have ever had.
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