It’ll be nice to see the Raptors back in Toronto tonight, because let’s face it…it almost has to be better than what happened in Cleveland. With the thousands of fans inside of the ACC, and the thousands more in Jurassic Park, the hope is that the Raptors are able to maintain the early success that they had in games 1 and 2.
It lasted about 7 minutes in game 1…and a quarter and a half in game 2. Maybe in game 3 we can see them keep the game competitive for a full 2-3 quarters? Or maybe the whole game?
The truth is we won’t know until we actually see it. The Cavaliers are on a mission to destroy anything in front of them, and the Raptors are currently the last team between them and a return trip to the finals. The Cavaliers are on a mission, and it’s clear they want to destroy the Raptors.
And it simply hasn’t been that hard for them. The Raptors currently only have three players who have a positive plus/minus in the playoffs, only one of which is a current regular. Kyle Lowry is a +3.4, the injured Jonas Valanciunas was a +2.4 before rolling his ankle, and Delon Wright is a +0.6 in his 3.8 minutes per game (only 7 games played).
Against the Cavs it’s been even worse through two games, with the top plus/minus contributors being Norman Powell and Lucas Nogueira, both being a -1 per game in their less than 5 minutes per game.
Everyone has looked ugly so far through two games. And what makes it more discouraging is that many of our most important players simply don’t look like themselves at the moment.
Cory Joseph just doesn’t have the same jump, and is currently being outplayed by Matthew Dellavedova. He looks like someone dealing with injury or hitting a significant wall. Patrick Patterson looks increasingly timid when it comes to shooting the three. DeMarre Carroll is being beaten badly by LeBron James (who doesn’t?).
Even Kyle Lowry is getting burned badly by Kyrie Irving, falling well short of his normal defensive standards. Yes, Kyrie is incredibly talented, but Kyle has showed in the past that he is capable of winning this individual match-up.
If the Raptors lose tonight this magical season will officially be over because the rest of the series would be just a formality, and although I have expected the Cavaliers to win the series all along, I’m want at least one more game to celebrate what this team has done.
Losing to the Cavaliers is not an indictment of this Raptors team. They are simply overmatched by a team with a transcendent star. The Raptors are a team that won 56 games, beat two underrated squads in tough 7 game series, and are one of the final four teams remaining in the NBA.
Let’s hope for at least one more night of magic tonight when game 3 kicks off.
