TORONTO – After an uneven first two contests, the Toronto Raptors beat the Indiana Pacers by 16 points back in Game 3 of the first round. It was a performance that seemed to finally quiet the year-long questions about whether or not the team had grown up since last year’s D.C. Debacle.
They got production from all over the floor, won the rebounding battle and coaxed the Pacers into bad shots and turnovers. The Raptors looked to be much better than the Pacers, as the regular season said should have been the case. It seemed like they had figured it – using Paul Pierce’s definition – out.
Over the next three games, the Pacers blew the Raptors out twice, and the Raptors managed a win in Game 5 thanks to only a fourth-quarter spurt aided by Indiana coach Frank Vogel’s curious lineups. It was the first time during the Raptors’ playoff run, although certainly not the last, that game-to-game momentum proved to be a total myth.
“I believe that every single game in the playoffs, round one to the Eastern Conference Finals, every single game is a different game,” point guard Kyle Lowry said. “We’ve proven it, literally. If you’ve watched us, we’ve proven every single game is a different game. You learn. You make adjustments. And then you go on and prepare for the next game.”
The Raptors looked to be on a path to sustainable play after Game 3 of the Indiana series, Game 5 of the Miami series and Game 4 of this Eastern Conference final against the Cleveland Cavaliers, only to deliver some of their worst performances of the playoffs the next time out.
Meanwhile, they also appeared to have no answers for their opponents in Game 6 against both the Pacers and Heat and during the first two games against the Cavaliers, only to produce some of their best outings afterward. Some of that is a likely product of the Raptors’ Jekyll-and-Hyde, can’t-stand-prosperity nature. Even DeMar DeRozan was left wondering on Thursday why his team plays its best only when it has recently been at its worst.
The way that all of the Raptors’ series have gone certainly stand in the face of how things have played out in the Western Conference, where the Oklahoma City Thunder have responded to a Game 1 disaster against the San Antonio Spurs with a largely unimpeachable three weeks of basketball, save for a few moments. If momentum is real – if confidence can build on itself – the Thunder look to be proof.
But it’s not just the Raptors that stand as some weird outliers, incapable of stringing more than a few good quarters together. Think back to the 2013 NBA Finals, regarded as one of the closest of all time, punctuated by Ray Allen’s series-saving shot in Game 6 and LeBron James’ epic 37-point Game 7.
From the second through fifth games, the teams alternated blowout victories. In the second and fourth games, the athleticism and brilliance of James and Dwyane Wade appeared to be too much for the Spurs. In the third and fifth games, San Antonio’s ball movement and shooting overwhelmed Miami. At various points of that series, it was hard to imagine both teams managing one more win. Of course, that series went the distance.
“[Momentum doesn’t exist] in a seven-game series,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “You have too many good teams. … There’s nobody that’s going to let you have momentum. You may have it for a little bit. When you do have it, you have to take advantage of it. We had it here at home.”
The Raptors have to hope both the pattern of this series and the seeming randomness of their playoffs in general hold true. Visitors are 0-5 in this series, which bodes well for the Raptors heading into Friday night. However, their 38-point loss on Wednesday had all the hallmarks of a team that, despite punching with LeBron and company just days earlier, is overwhelmed by a more talented team.
Just as it was after Game 2, it’s hard to imagine the Raptors stealing a game after Game 5, even if the next one is in Air Canada Centre.
However, part of the reason that momentum seems to be invented is because no two games are the same since styles – and responses to those styles – are ever-changing. Casey said he thought the Raptors had figured out how to deal with Cleveland’s aggressive trapping defence after the two contests at home, but as the Cavaliers cranked up their intensity and physicality in similar schemes in Game 5, the Raptors wilted.
The Raptors turned the ball over 18 times, including five turnovers from Lowry. The Cavaliers, led by Love’s wonderful full-court passing and James’ open-floor brilliance, decimated them in transition. Lowry said he had not seen such aggressive trapping since last April, against Washington.
“For whatever reason, our timing was off, our spacing was off,” Casey said. “When we did execute it and got a wide-open shot, some of the shots we didn’t make. We got wide-open looks with two passes out of the double team. We got good looks. We’ve got to continue to do that. As soon as we see two bodies on the ball, get rid of it, pass it quicker. It’s something we’ve got to do a better job of.”
Maybe they will or maybe they won’t. In order to extend their season, they have to improve. Whatever happens, this post-season has taught us that it will probably have precious little resemblance to whatever immediately preceded it.