Which brings us back to the present day, and this Cavaliers-Celtics series.
How could this happen? How could Toronto have had such an excellent regular season and been demolished by LeBron James so easily regardless? (And, hanging in the air, unanswered, but looming larger and larger on the horizon: what do the Raptors do now?)Īnd now, despite being eliminated from the 2018 NBA playoffs, things are getting worse for the Raptors anyway. They geared the whole year towards an eventual confrontation with Cleveland, got it, and then crumpled. The whole affair has pushed the Raptors to the brink of some serious existential despair. In fact, Cleveland’s sweep of the Raptors was so bad it’s already cost coach Dwane Casey his job, even after he tried gamely to suggest it was closer than his team’s other sweep by the Cavs, from the year before. We saw it all happen, read about it, talked about it, and, by now, have internalized it - the outcome was bad.
2018 EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS SERIES
We don’t need to re-litigate Toronto’s series against the Cavaliers - the calls that went right or wrong, the shots that did or didn’t go in, the decisions that were or were not made. And right now, because of how their final four games went, I must repeat: hoo boy, the Raptors really blew it, didn’t they? We are instead trapped in the here-and-now. Unfortunately, we have not reached that point in the future yet. So yes, there is no doubt that when the amber sets on the 2017-18 NBA season, we’ll look back and remember this Raptors team as being a success. And furthermore, we also should note that, hey, the Raptors won a Game 1 at home (a dumb, but weirdly significant hurdle), and got past the first round (in relative) ease, which was nice to see. And this is before we even unpack all of the fun and good changes the Raptors made - more ball movement! more three-pointers! more exciting young players getting a chance to spread their wings! And also, this is before we compliment Kyle Lowry on his All-Star calibre season and style adjustments, and DeMar DeRozan’s (likely) All-NBA-level play.
We knew they probably weren’t going to win the title, but grabbing 59 wins and the number one seed in the East, all while ranking in the top five in both offensive and defensive rating, is an accomplishment.
For 82 regular season games, Toronto was easily one of the best five teams in the league, and one of its most consistent. Let it not be said the Raptors’ 2017-18 season was a failure. Just thinking about that series now, today, with the Celtics up 2-0 on the Cavaliers, is a source of great pain, producing within me a surge of anguish that crystallizes into single, cogent point: hoo boy, the Raptors really blew it, didn’t they?īefore you all start jumping in with your comments, complaints, explanations, and what-have-yous, let me backpedal and acknowledge the frame of reference we’re working with here. but the primary cause is simply a matter of self-care. My reasons for this are numerous - who has that kind of time? who cares about either of these teams? have you seen the weather recently? etc. Let me make a bold admission first: I have not watched one single second of the ongoing Eastern Conference Final series involving the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers.
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