Is it too simplistic to boil down the Toronto Raptors season into this one question? Unfair even?
In an eastern conference landscape bereft elite teams, everybody is looking for a contender to slay the king, a challenger who can takedown LeBron James and his hometown posse. In a field full of good but not great teams, Toronto has climbed up the pecking order and ascended into the number one contender slot.
On paper there just isn’t another viable option: Charlotte… no superstar, Miami… no Chris Bosh, Atlanta… refer 2015 Eastern conference finals, Boston… their best scorer disappears against Cleveland, everybody else… dream on.
Toronto is having the best season in franchise history. It has finally cracked the 50-win plateau and are guaranteed a top four seed in the eastern conference for a third straight season. Long gone are the Jurassic Park jokes, replaced with skinny Kyle Lowry, Drake’s questionable fashion styling’s and a winning basketball side.
Yet for all their success under Masai Ujiri the weight of past failures still hang over their collective NBA mortality. Forget about challenging the Cavaliers, Toronto must first address this little issue before dreaming of a showdown with the LeBron andamp; Co: can they even win a playoff series?
Just like Richmond in the AFL, this bunch of historical underachievers are still paying for past indiscretions. The regular season success is a promising trend but it doesn’t mean that much. It can all be undone with a poor week once the playoffs begin, luckily for Toronto Paul Piece hangs out in Los Angeles these days.
In a funny way, the same thing applies for the Cavaliers. The dramas experienced by the LeBrons over the past six months will all go away if they can capture Cleveland’s first professional sports title in over 50 years. Conversely, anything short of the championship will unleash the wolves, well those that are still waiting to pounce.
Write or wrong the results will justify the means for the 2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers.
Was the move to sack David Blatt correct? Should they have traded Kevin Love? Is Kyrie Irving a ball hawk? How absurd was the Tristan Thompson contract? History will judge each question by what happens over the net two months. It’s not right but it’s the reality of a 2016 NBA landscape and the fishbowl a LeBron James operated vehicle operates in.
So in a roundabout way both franchises have successfully navigated a regular season that started with little upside and put themselves in position right old wrongs.
Now back to our question: Can Toronto beat the Cleveland Cavaliers?
I toyed with debating whether the Raptors can challenge the Cavaliers but that would be fruitless. Of course they can challenge Cleveland, the regular season has shown this to be true – Toronto has beaten Cleveland twice this campaign. But can they win four from seven and sneak into the NBA finals?
Can they do what no eastern conference side has since 2010 and eliminate LeBron James when the pressure is on? Let’s use history as a guide.
History has shown it takes a lot to beat LeBron James in the playoffs. You can argue about whether James has choked, collapsed or ‘insert any other controversial Skip Bayless level hyperbole here’ in certain playoff series over the journey but he has only lost to the best.
Since 2007, here is the list of teams who have beaten LeBron James in a playoff series: San Antonio (twice), Boston (twice), Orlando, Dallas and Golden State
What did each of these sides have? Hall of Fame superstar… check, a veteran laden supporting cast consisting of former and current all-stars… check, a top five head coach… check and a signature playing style… check.
Argue all you want about varying scales of greatness but each LeBron conquer possessed these four elements. And before you even ask, Dwight Howard is a guaranteed hall of famer despite his recent antics.
Unfortunately for the Toronto they just don’t measure up to this lofty standard.
Don’t get me wrong, Toronto is a very good team. Well coached, well put together and adequate in every way. They are solid without being spectacular – the sort of girl you would take home to your mother but not one that gets the juices going.
Kyle Lowry and Demar DeRozan are each having the best season of their career but the 2016 Toronto Raptors appear to be a side with a glass ceiling. Atlanta witnessed the power of LeBron James last season, as did Indiana in the seasons before them. Why should we expect anything different this go around.
Fair or unfair to Toronto, the upcoming eastern conference playoffs are a referendum on the Cavaliers. Cleveland is the most talented side in the east, no sane person can debate this. Personally, I have been betting on LeBron every season since 2007 and see no reason to change now.
Toronto can challenge the Cavaliers (depending on how you define this) and even drag out a playoff series. But can they win a playoff series against James, Irving, Love and our little warrior Delly? I just can’t see it.
What do you think?
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