As last year, the Toronto Raptors failed in the Conference Semifinals due to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. What were the reasons and how will those responsible in Canada react to the renewed disappointment? SPOX answers the most important questions.
For the eighth time in the history of the NBA, a top seed was swept in a playoff round, the LeBron Cavs being the proverbial street sweeper for the second time after 2015 (Hawks). Toronto paid off this time and, after losing two series in the last two years against Cleveland, wanted to finally make headway.
The bottom line, however, is another bitter elimination, with Game 4 being an absolute dismantling and coach Dwane Casey counting his men. “I would have thought that we would have been more resistant,” the disappointed coach regretted. As in Game 2, the Raptors were humiliated by LeBron James, who took the Canadians apart by every trick in the book.
The crux of the disastrous exit was probably the first encounter when Toronto ended the fourth quarter with eleven misses in a row and the Cavs decided the game in extra time. There James played his worst game of the series (26 points, 12/30 FG, 1/6 FT), as he also emphasized bluntly, Toronto was still empty-handed.
This obviously gnawed at the Raptors team, which was completely out of control in the following game and was shown by James. Toronto had no solution for the small-ball lineup of the Cavs, even though Casey only had one big man start in games 3 and 4 and significantly reduced the rotation.
At least in the first game in Cleveland, the Raptors showed morale once again and almost made the series exciting or at least made it exciting again in game 3. In the end, however, the Canadians once again failed because of the brilliance of James, whose wild game winner finally broke the morale of the Raptors.
That the Cavs’ role-players like J.R. Smith or Kevin Love suddenly blossomed after weak games against the Indiana Pacers was also not self-evident and a reason why the Raptors could not even win a game. Ultimately, however, DeRozan’s motto from last year was once again valid: “If we had LeBron in our team, we would have been the winner of the series”.
Page 1: What happened?
Page 2: How do you rate the Toronto Raptors season?
Page 3: What can Toronto do in the offseason?
Page 4: Do the Raptors have to trade one or more stars?
Page 5: Is Dwane Casey the right coach?