If the series was best-of-nine or best-of-21, it’s hard to imagine things would be any different between the Toronto Raptors and the Boston Celtics, two evenly-matched teams that were tight as two cats fighting in a sack.
It’s a shame it had to end. It was compelling theatre, if you like your professional sports played with a heavy dose of blood, sweat and tears.
But it did, and from the Raptors point of view, it’s over. The season anyway. The lengthy reign as NBA champs too. And who knows what else, the business of basketball being what it is.
The Raptors fought until the final minute of the final game but couldn’t squeeze out enough offence to compliment their elite defensive effort as they dropped Game 7 of their second-round series with the Boston 92-87.
With Kyle Lowry on the bench having fouled out the Raptors needed a three-pointer with 34 seconds play to draw even with Boston but could only manage a blocked deep three pointer by Fred VanVleet.
It told the story. The Raptors shot 41.3 per cent from the floor and just 8-of-28 from three in Game 7 — consistent with their series-long averages.
Boston wasn’t any better at 40.7 per cent and 9-of-38 from deep, but they only made 10 turnovers to the Raptors’ 18 that led to 31 Boston points — the difference in the game.
The Raptors had the will but not the ability to break through and in the end Boston’s young stars won the day and the series — Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 60 points and the Raptors had no answers.
As the off-season unfolds there will be only questions as the Raptors returning in their current form is unlikely given the contract situations of some of their key players. The Celtics will advance to play the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Raptors get to leave Florida after nearly 11 weeks and head home.
They pushed right to the end. Toronto trailed 72-71 heading into the fourth quarter but struggled to keep their grip. Midway through the period they trailed by seven and didn’t have any source of reliable offence. Routine plays weren’t made, easy plays were difficult, the scoreboard remained stuck and the turnovers mounted, with Pascal Siakam — the Raptors leading regular season scorer — playing as if in quicksand.
In contrast the Celtics’ Tatum — near dominant all series — seemed to gain strength as the game went along. His three-point play with five minutes to pay put Boston up 10.
Of course in many ways the Raptors were fortunate to make it this far. When Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green left in free agency those that didn’t know the team well thought even making the playoffs would be a challenge and even after a remarkable regular season by any standard — Toronto had the league’s second-best record and was on pace to set a franchise record with 60 wins — there were fair questions about how Toronto’s ‘by committee’ approach on offence would fare against elite playoff defences.
Not all that well, turns out. The Raptors needed a miracle bucket at the buzzer from OG Anunoby to avoid going down 3-0 and then an epic Game 6 double-overtime win to force another elimination game.
“It has been a difficult journey probably to get to this game, I think,” said Nurse. “You know, they played great, and they really made things difficult on us. We haven’t, I don’t think, played as well — individually and collectively — as well as we’ve seen ourselves, right? But we have for certain stretches and all that kind of stuff. [But] the one thing I do know is we deserve to be here in this game, and we’re glad to be here.”
The fifth Game 7 in Raptors franchise history was made possible by a remarkable pair of overtime periods where each team traded knockout punches before Lowry sealed it with his now famous turnaround jumper in the lane over Kemba Walker with 11 seconds left.
On Friday, it seemed like both teams picked up where they left off. After a series marked mostly by defence choking the life out of the offences, there was some flow. Initially it was Boston that was feeling it as they sparked a 13-0 run that briefly seemed to signal another lost first quarter for Toronto — the Celtics have never trailed after the first period in the series.
But when Nurse went to his bench he was instantly rewarded as Game 6 hero Norman Powell grabbed a rebound and sprinted the length of the floor for a rare Raptors fastbreak and then little-used Matt Thomas sprinted into a triple and the Raptors quickly were off to a 15-2 run that allowed Toronto to lead heading into the second quarter for the first time in series, 27-26.
The back-and-forth continued in the second quarter but this time the Raptor seemed to be doing their best to contribute to Boston’s cause. The Raptors went up seven when Serge Ibaka made three free throws after Walker fouled him on a triple. But Toronto went on to commit six turnovers on their next seven possessions and gave up an 11-0 run that allowed Boston to take a 50-46 lead into the half.
There were some concerning signs. Lowry — who played 53 arduous minutes in Game 6 — scored on his first shot of the game and not again in the half. Siakam continued his woes — he was 1-of-5 in the first half — and Marc Gasol (2-of-6 ) was minus-20 in 13 minutes, and the 10 first-half turnovers were ominous too.
But it’s not only the end of a season and the longest championship rein in NBA history — a record that might stand for a while — it quite possibly is the end of an era.
For most of the life of the Raptors franchise the lows far out-weighed the highs, it was almost part of the charm. There was Vince Carter lifting the franchise into the stratosphere, but years in the dregs on either side of his brief time as a Raptors icon. Chris Bosh offered promise, but in the end his peak was short lived and never involved getting past the first round of the playoffs.
But the Kyle Lowry Raptors have been completely different. The bulldog point guard has been the constant in seven years that were all almost better than anything that had been before and he led them to places that were unimaginable for fans who remember Vincenzo Esposito; 16-66 or Sam Mitchell incredulously reading off Jerome Moiso’s box score line (“Zero, Zero, Zero ….).
The team that drafted Hoffa instead of Andre Iguodala was suddenly finding VanVleet as an undrafted free agent and Siakam late in the first round. Instead of Toronto as a market and a franchise players wanted to avoid or escape, smart agents were steering their players there, believing ‘Raptors culture’ would rub off on them and help them reach their potential.
Kevin Garnett and LeBron James were stunned at the playoff atmosphere inside Scotiabank Arena and US networks couldn’t get enough of the crowd shots outside of it. Chants of ‘We the North’ rang out across the league as Raptors fans travelled like a joyful, loyal, noise-producing army.
There were Conference Finals appearances, and NBA championship and this year a believable run at repeating as champions even after Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green left in free agency as Toronto finished the second-best regular-season record and set a franchise record for winning percentage.
The Raptors rank first in the NBA for regular season wins over the past seven years and have the Eastern Conference’s longest post-season streak.
But nothing lasts for ever and while Boston ended the Raptors season, the business of basketball might end the era. VanVleet, Ibaka, Gasol and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson are pending free agents and Lowry — heading into the last year of his contract — will be coveted on the trade market by teams looking to make the jump from good to great.
Nurse is heading into the last year of his deal as are Raptors president Masai Ujiri and rest of the front office staff.
There is no guarantees of major changes, but with so many loose ends, it won’t take much for things unravel.
Which is why while this season — the longest, strangest and most unlikely season in NBA history — might be over for the Raptors, it should be time of celebration and recognition rather than mourning.
The Raptors have never had an ‘era’ before — a period multiple generations of fan will all be able to point at and agree as the golden years; the payoff for all that came before and the standard for all that comes next.
That’s what these last seven years have been about and why they will forever be remembered.
The stories will unite fans across generations and cultures in a time when the bonds that hold things together seem more tenuous than ever.
When in doubt about what sports can mean and how much people from different places and races crave to belong and be united, remember the happy, sweaty, disorganized chaos of the championship parade.
The Raptors did that. We should never let ourselves forget it.
So, if it’s really over don’t cry, as the wise Dr. Suess wrote.
Smile because it happened.
