
Samson Folk & Trevon Heath are joined by Joe Wolfond and Louis Zatzman to discuss the Raptors so far.
From Louis’ piece:
“Murray-Boyles throws in a putback dunk, but Mitchell splashes in another triple. His four at this point are more than the entire number of 3-point makes the Raptors have managed. Ingram turns it over after wasting a possession trying to isolate, later misses a pull-up. Later, Murray-Boyles grabs an offensive rebound, but Toronto misses. A minute later, Murray-Boyles grabs another, this time resulting in an Ingram triple. Everything is flowing through the rookie at this point. The Raptors are aflame in the crucible, but Murray-Boyles alone walks unharmed.
No one knows it at the time, but he will carry Toronto across the finish line. Perhaps everyone knows it at the time.
A spinning Barrett layup drags Toronto within a point, then Barnes and Shead force an eight-second violation. Murray-Boyles’ teammates have joined him. Forty seconds, down one, Raptors’ ball. The final obstacle. Barnes tries to dunk, arms fully extended, Allen helpless looking up at the Raptor above him. He settles for free throws, and makes them. It is Murray-Boyles, dancer, ballerino, bull, who is isolated against Mitchell and forces a miss on Cleveland’s last chance.
Now the series is tied. Now Cleveland is drowning in the physicality and defensive intensity of Toronto. The series is a meatgrinder, and Toronto’s bones are stronger than Cleveland’s flesh. The Raptors, led by Murray-Boyles and Barnes, have dragged Cleveland into the stone age, where the two teams simply batter at one another with clubs. The Raptors didn’t win as much were the last man standing in this one.
Elliott was long gone. But for one brief, shining moment, he was cheering beside me. Toronto has ensured he’ll have another chance to cheer for his team soon. For Elliott, for the Raptors, it is a start.”
More must-reads:
+
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!