CLEVELAND \u2013 Masai Ujiri may have had a point.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>. There was even some wisdom in one of his most critiqued decisions, or indecision as it were.<\/p>\n 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\u2019t clear in the moment. <\/p>\n 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\u2019s misfortune, or a lucky bounce.<\/p>\n 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\u2019t the primary cause for his dismissal last summer \u2013 it came down to money, as it often does in this business \u2013 but his misread of that group\u2019s upside and market value didn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n With a Game 7 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>, Toronto would have advanced to face the Detroit Pistons<\/a> in Round 2. The top-seeded Pistons won 60 games during the regular season \u2013 a 16-win improvement from last year, same as the Raptors. <\/p>\n However, they needed seven games of choppy basketball \u2013 and a historic Game 6 collapse \u2013 to get past an underwhelming Orlando Magic<\/a> team, which doesn\u2019t exactly inspire confidence. They would\u2019ve been favoured in a series with Toronto but have shown where their vulnerabilities lie.<\/p>\n From there, who knows? The second-seeded Boston Celtics<\/a> \u2013 a team many picked to win the East \u2013 were upset by the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>, who look dangerous but are always one Joel Embiid<\/a> injury away from being upended. The New York Knicks<\/a> are now the team to beat, but even they lost two of three first three games to the Atlanta Hawks<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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\u2019t have even made it this far, but that\u2019s the magic of sports. <\/p>\n \u201cI thought we gave it all,\u201d head coach Darko Rajakovic said after his team\u2019s 114-102 Game 7 loss. \u201cI\u2019m 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\u2019ve created a culture that we\u2019re one of the hardest playing teams in the league. We take a lot of pride in that.\u201d<\/p>\n They came in as the league\u2019s second-youngest playoff team, with a fraction of the experience as the Cavaliers \u2013 James Harden<\/a> and Donovan Mitchell<\/a>, alone, had nearly four times as many playoff games under their belt as the entire Raptors rotation. <\/p>\n Their starting point guard, Immanuel Quickley<\/a>, 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<\/a>, struggled through the first four and a half games and then missed the rest of it with a heel injury. <\/p>\n They were run out of Cleveland\u2019s gym in Game 1 and then fell behind 2-0.<\/p>\n But in Game 3, it was an unlikely hero, sparingly used sharpshooter Jamison Battle<\/a>, who hit four threes and scored all 14 of his points in the fourth quarter, essentially saving Toronto\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n 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<\/a> jumper that clanked off the back rim, ricocheted to the top of the shot clock, and fell straight down, reminiscent of Kawhi Leonard<\/a>\u2019s iconic four-bouncer from the 2019 title run. <\/p>\n Again, the magic of sports.<\/p>\n The magic finally ran out. The series couldn\u2019t 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. <\/p>\n The cumulative score through six and a half games was tied at 718 points. Toronto dominated most of Sunday\u2019s 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: \u201cDon\u2019t stop believing,\u201d he shouted.<\/p>\n Cleveland didn\u2019t 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<\/a> posting a double-double in the frame alone. That turned out to be the difference.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWe always believed we could play at this level,\u201d Barrett said. \u201cObviously, this loss hurts, but I think it also shows the rest of the league, the rest of the world what we\u2019re building here. When you see the Toronto Raptors<\/a>, you\u2019re going to get a dog fight.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n 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\u2019s youth and inexperience showed. <\/p>\n But that\u2019s the last time that it showed.<\/p>\n You could see the young Raptors figure it out as the series went on. It wasn\u2019t pretty, but this team wasn\u2019t 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. <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n In a series that featured a future hall of famer in Harden, the NBA\u2019s sixth-leading scorer in Mitchell, and a former Defensive Player of the Year winner in Evan Mobley<\/a>, it was Scottie Barnes<\/a> that shined the brightest. It\u2019s hard to imagine him doing more or doing it better. <\/p>\n Without Quickley, Barnes was the team\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n One way or another, the Raptors were always going to learn something about who they are and what they\u2019ve got from this series. What did they learn about their best player? If Barnes isn\u2019t a true superstar yet, at 24 years of age, he\u2019s on a superstar trajectory.<\/p>\n \u201cFor this stage of his career, I think he gave it all,\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cHe 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\u2019re going to see. I know how hungry he is, how much he\u2019s going to work over the course of the summer, and what kind of a player he\u2019s going to be next year. I think we\u2019re going to see an even better Scottie next year.\u201d<\/p>\n So, what else have they learned?<\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n They learned their kids weren\u2019t scared of the moment. If anything, it brought out the best in them. <\/p>\n At 20 years old, the youngest on the team, rookie Collin Murray-Boyles<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n