Raptors season ends in Game 7 in Cleveland: Pull Up Tre

From Louis’ piece:

For a time, though, the Raptors were soaring.

The fact of the matter is that the Raptors employ a variety of players who have never seen such incandescent lights — but found that they quite enjoyed the heat. Ja’Kobe Walter remained an assassin with the jumper. For a time, Shead, too, as he splashed a buzzer-beating corner triple on his first look in Game 7. He followed that up with an opportunistic cut for a layup, a lob pass to Collin Murray-Boyles for a thunder dunk, and a driving layup over Evan Mobley. After driving for free throws midway through the second, he at that point had more points than James Harden and Mitchell combined. More assists, too.

Jamison Battle hit a catch-high-keep-high triple in transition after Murray-Boyles stole a rebound that Jarrett Allen was trying to dunk. Murray-Boyles hit a buzzer-beating isolation jumper to magic points from a nothing offensive possession. For a time, the Raptors were a Nascar driver with their wheel patched, their windshield taped in place, and their engine glued in by gumption and good vibes. And also for a time, that vehicle and its driver was in pole position of the race. 

And, yes, it all fell apart. Jamal Shead can only outduel James Harden and Donovan Mitchell for so long, especially on one ankle. Things got ugly in the third quarter. There were headbutts, blocked shots, runout dunks for Cleveland. There were noteworthy calls that gave star players fifth fouls on 50-50 balls. It’s not that the Raptors flew too close to the sun as much as that their patched-together wings had an expiration date that didn’t quite last seven full basketball games. But perhaps the best lesson from this seven-game journey is that the Raptors may not have landed the plane in the next round, but neither did they lose the blueprints. 

The Raptors know who they are going forward. 

For half a decade, the Raptors have been wandering lost in the desert. The champions left in ones and twos. Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, Serge Ibaka, Marc Gasol, Kyle Lowry, Norm Powell, all gone. Then Fred VanVleet. Then OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam.

And without those stars, the Raptors suffered both in terms of quality and identity. The offence fell apart. The Raptors went so long without a center that Khem Birch was a breath of fresh air. They lost and lost and lost — yet not quite enough to find a surefire superstar at the top of the draft. What could Darko Rajakovic spin out of those years of experimentation? 

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