CLEVELAND – Masai Ujiri may have had a point.
OK, the former team president and architect of the 2019 NBA championship club got a lot of things right during his decade-plus in charge of the Toronto Raptors. There was even some wisdom in one of his most critiqued decisions, or indecision as it were.
One of the reasons he waited so long to move on from the talented but flawed post-championship core was because he saw value in keeping the competitive window open, even if the path to contention wasn’t clear in the moment.
He recognized that the balance of power was ever-changing, especially in the East, and believed they were one opportunity away. If they could stay in the hunt, they would always be in position to take advantage of a wide-open conference, another team’s misfortune, or a lucky bounce.
He was wrong about that iteration of the team, for all the reasons that have been discussed at length since he reluctantly dismantled it and (finally) opted to rebuild. That wasn’t the primary cause for his dismissal last summer – it came down to money, as it often does in this business – but his misread of that group’s upside and market value didn’t help.
However, Ujiri was onto something and his long-time top lieutenant, current general manager and head of basketball operations, Bobby Webster has found it in this version of the Raptors.
Despite coming into their opening-round series at a talent, size, experience, and health disadvantage, they finished it one win shy of turning an unexpected playoff appearance into an unlikely playoff run.
With a Game 7 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto would have advanced to face the Detroit Pistons in Round 2. The top-seeded Pistons won 60 games during the regular season – a 16-win improvement from last year, same as the Raptors.
However, they needed seven games of choppy basketball – and a historic Game 6 collapse – to get past an underwhelming Orlando Magic team, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. They would’ve been favoured in a series with Toronto but have shown where their vulnerabilities lie.
From there, who knows? The second-seeded Boston Celtics – a team many picked to win the East – were upset by the Philadelphia 76ers, who look dangerous but are always one Joel Embiid injury away from being upended. The New York Knicks are now the team to beat, but even they lost two of three first three games to the Atlanta Hawks.
These plucky upstart Raptors could have made some noise. Instead, their season came to an end on Sunday, but what a season it was. On paper, they shouldn’t have even made it this far, but that’s the magic of sports.
“I thought we gave it all,” head coach Darko Rajakovic said after his team’s 114-102 Game 7 loss. “I’m really, really proud of this group and the fight that they brought, not just in the game tonight, but the whole series and the whole season. I think we’ve created a culture that we’re one of the hardest playing teams in the league. We take a lot of pride in that.”
They came in as the league’s second-youngest playoff team, with a fraction of the experience as the Cavaliers – James Harden and Donovan Mitchell, alone, had nearly four times as many playoff games under their belt as the entire Raptors rotation.
Their starting point guard, Immanuel Quickley, missed the entire series after aggravating a hamstring injury he sustained in the final game of the regular campaign. Their leading scorer and No. 1 offensive option, Brandon Ingram, struggled through the first four and a half games and then missed the rest of it with a heel injury.
They were run out of Cleveland’s gym in Game 1 and then fell behind 2-0.
But in Game 3, it was an unlikely hero, sparingly used sharpshooter Jamison Battle, who hit four threes and scored all 14 of his points in the fourth quarter, essentially saving Toronto’s season. In Game 4, the Raptors became the first team since the three-point line was introduced in the 1970s to shoot 32 per cent from the field and win a playoff contest.
In Game 6, they led for nearly 40 straight minutes before the Cavs stormed back and forced overtime. They were dead in the water if not for the luckiest of lucky bounces, an RJ Barrett jumper that clanked off the back rim, ricocheted to the top of the shot clock, and fell straight down, reminiscent of Kawhi Leonard’s iconic four-bouncer from the 2019 title run.
Again, the magic of sports.
The magic finally ran out. The series couldn’t have been much closer. It was a battle of attrition at times, a competitive, physical, and back and forth series that fittingly went the distance and the Raptors fought until they had nothing left.
The cumulative score through six and a half games was tied at 718 points. Toronto dominated most of Sunday’s first half. At one point, with the home team down 10, Cavs fans began to boo and the public address announcer had to calm them down: “Don’t stop believing,” he shouted.
Cleveland didn’t take its first lead until early in the third quarter, went on a 9-0 run, and never looked back. For the first time since the series opener, the Cavs were able to weaponize their size, out-rebounded Toronto 22-8. Jarrett Allen posting a double-double in the frame alone. That turned out to be the difference.
Still, few had the Raptors pushing Cleveland that far. The Cavs were heavy favourites going in, with most pundits picking them to get it done in five or six games. They were favoured going into each of the seven games.
“We always believed we could play at this level,” Barrett said. “Obviously, this loss hurts, but I think it also shows the rest of the league, the rest of the world what we’re building here. When you see the Toronto Raptors, you’re going to get a dog fight.”
There’s a lot this team can feel good about coming off a season most would categorize as an unequivocal success. They went 46-36, blowing by their 39.5-win pre-season projection to earn the fifth seed and punch their ticket to the playoff for the first time in four years.
Their goal was to get back to the postseason, and they did that, but they also had to look like they belonged once they got there. Getting embarrassed in Round 1 would have surely left a sour taste going into the summer, and that looked to be on the table after a lopsided Game 1, where Toronto’s youth and inexperience showed.
But that’s the last time that it showed.
You could see the young Raptors figure it out as the series went on. It wasn’t pretty, but this team wasn’t built to play picture perfect basketball. Despite the adversity, injuries, and shooting woes, they found a way to scrap and claw their way back into the series by playing their hearts out and maintaining their defensive identity.
They fought, they showed their resiliency, and they made sure the Cavs, with all their high-priced veteran talent, were feeling the heat. Even in the end, they went down swinging, cutting a 22-point second-half deficit in half over the final minutes of the Game 7 loss.
In a series that featured a future hall of famer in Harden, the NBA’s sixth-leading scorer in Mitchell, and a former Defensive Player of the Year winner in Evan Mobley, it was Scottie Barnes that shined the brightest. It’s hard to imagine him doing more or doing it better.
Without Quickley, Barnes was the team’s de facto starting point guard and recorded 60 assists in the series. He did it while scoring and playing more than he had all season and serving as the primary defender on Harden. Foul trouble, and likely fatigue, limited him in Game 7, sadly.
One way or another, the Raptors were always going to learn something about who they are and what they’ve got from this series. What did they learn about their best player? If Barnes isn’t a true superstar yet, at 24 years of age, he’s on a superstar trajectory.
“For this stage of his career, I think he gave it all,” said Rajakovic. “He made a huge stride, and I think he got so much better in this playoff series, but I sound like a broken record, this is not the best version of Scottie that we’re going to see. I know how hungry he is, how much he’s going to work over the course of the summer, and what kind of a player he’s going to be next year. I think we’re going to see an even better Scottie next year.”
So, what else have they learned?
You need dogs to win in the playoffs, and if there was ever any doubt, Barrett has proven to be just that. After hearing his name pop up in trade rumours for the better part of the last year, the Mississauga, Ont., native came up clutch, leading the club in fourth-quarter scoring, in addition to his overtime heroics.
He made strides defensively, going toe-to-toe with Mitchell, as well as guarding the bigger Allen. He also showed his toughness, holding Harden to account after he felt like the all-star guard was disrespecting his team in Game 5.
They learned their kids weren’t scared of the moment. If anything, it brought out the best in them.
At 20 years old, the youngest on the team, rookie Collin Murray-Boyles was one of its most consistent and impactful players. His game, mentality, and big physical body proved to be perfectly suited for playoff basketball. He looks like a star in the making and a foundational piece next to Barnes in the frontcourt.
Meanwhile, Ja’Kobe Walter and Jamal Shead look like building blocks, legitimate rotation pieces for years to come. With injuries thrusting them into more prominent roles, they stepped up in meaningful ways on both ends of the floor.
They learned Rajakovic could navigate a playoff series, his first as an NBA head coach. He kept his young group focused, even keeled and prepared, while making timely adjustments and often outmaneuvering Cleveland’s more experienced coach, Kenny Atkinson.
They also learned, or were reminded, where their deficiencies lie and what decisions await them as they look ahead to a crucial off-season and try to build on their success in the years to come.
Their lack of shooting was glaring at times, especially without Quickley on the floor. Their offence fell apart late in games, and while some of it may have simply been running out gas, given how hard they play and that they were missing two starters, that was also a reoccurring theme against good teams during the season.
Despite reestablishing himself as an all-star and playing in 77 games during an excellent first season in Toronto, Ingram was badly exposed by Cleveland’s physicality and defensive game planning before he aggravated his nagging heel injury and was forced to watch the rest of the series from the bench.
While Jakob Poeltl started all seven games, he essentially played backup centre minutes and then played himself off the floor in Game 7.
Together, the five starters are owed roughly $163.4 million next season, or roughly 99 per cent of the projected salary cap. That’s before the backloaded portion of Poeltl’s deal kicks in the following season and without factoring in Barrett’s future – he has one more year left on his current deal and will be looking for a lucrative contract extension over the summer.
It’s a dilemma of their own making, but a dilemma, nonetheless. Without Ujiri, the man who handed out most of those contracts, it’s on Webster to chart a path forward and make the math work.
But the future is brighter than it may have appeared when they were backing into the playoffs or at risk of being swept from of it. The Raptors fought hard and gave themselves a chance to do something that nobody thought they could do. There’s value in that.
