Ah, the playoffs: LeBron’s wrecking crew act, Marchand’s licking lunacy
To paraphrase that old breakup line, “It ain’t you, Toronto. It’s LeBron.”
Because no one gets to break up with Toronto, the humiliation of the Raptors by LeBron James is being seen as all about Hogtown. Sad. But when you’re the centre of your own universe, you think you should be able to buy, intimidate or use every means at your disposal to get what you want. Now.
The kabuki from courtside jester Drake sums up Toronto’s pretensions to National Basketball Association relevance. The pop singer tried to diss the Cleveland Cavaliers, efforting the resistance his own team abandoned days ago. But Drake’s wannabe act was put in his place by the collapse of his Eastern Conference regular-season winners.
While the Cavs won one more game to sweep the Raptors on Monday, the dagger to Toronto’s hopes of entertaining Shaq, Charles Barkley and the NBA elite for the Eastern Final came with a LeBron buzzer beater in Game 3. How fatal was that shot to the Raps? “Shot hurts my heart and we ain’t playing!” tweeted a rival NBA player with no stake in the game.