TORONTO – As the final two minutes ticked down on a game that was already out of reach, Toronto fans in the Air Canada Centre stood on their feet and chanted – “Let’s go Raptors!”
It was a thrilling and historic post-season run, but it came to an ending Friday – a remarkable two games shy of the NBA finals.
LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love combined for 86 points to propel the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 113-87 victory over Toronto and into the NBA finals – what will be a sixth consecutive appearance for James.
Kyle Lowry had 35 points to top Toronto, while fellow all-star DeMar DeRozan had 20. Jonas Valanciunas grabbed nine rebounds.
In their 20th game of this roller-coaster of a playoff run, and two nights after an embarrassing 38-point rout in Cleveland that put the underrated Raptors on the ropes, they battled hard, but couldn’t make shots against a Cavs team that seemingly couldn’t miss.
A 14-point deficit had grown to 21 points late in the third quarter, but Lowry scored the Raptors’ last 15 points of the quarter to inject some hope into the crowd and send the Raptors into the fourth trailing 86-74.
The Raptors were within 13 points on a Lowry three with 8:21 to play, but barely two minutes later, Irving hit a dagger three that had the Cavaliers up by 21, and finally sucked any last hope the Raptors and their fans had of forcing a Game 7.
Lowry checked out with 2:38 to play, to a warm ovation from the fans and a huge hug from coach Dwane Casey.
The Cavs shot 54 per cent on the night, and hit 17-of-31 three-point shots. The Raptors hit just eight of their 25 shots from long distance.
The game was played in front of a raucous crowd that painted the maple leaf in red and white T-shirts, and included actor Jamie Foxx, Drake, Blue Jays’ outfielder Jose Bautista and Montreal Canadiens star P.K. Subban.
Thousands more fans gathered outside to watch the game on the giant screen in a crowd that bulged well beyond the borders of Jurassic Park.
Eliminated in the first round of the playoffs the previous two years, the question all season was whether they could win a series.
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They did one better, knocking off both Indiana and Miami to become one of the last four NBA teams standing – earning their first conference finals appearance in the team’s 21-year history.
The roller-coaster post-season run was both thrilling and gruelling, as the Raptors played every second day for the final 15 games. They picked up a couple of key injuries along the way, including DeRozan’s sprained thumb that required wrapping with a shoelace during timeouts to reduce swelling, and Valanciunas’s ankle sprain that sidelined him for eight games.
Coming into Friday, the Raptors had logged 927 playoffs minutes compared to 624 by Cleveland. They’d survived elimination twice, beating both Indiana and Miami in seven games.
The record post-season run comes after a franchise record 56-win regular season that saw the Raptors clinch the No. 2 seed in the East.
The Cavs raced out to an 11-point first-quarter lead, but the Raptors ended the quarter on a 9-4 run, and trailed 31-25 heading into the second.
Toronto pulled to within six points midway through the second, but they shot just 5-for-20 in the frame and when an Irving steal resulted in a Love three with three seconds on the clock, it sent the Raptors into halftime trailing 55-41.
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