CLEVELAND—It has to be spirit-crushing and demoralizing, the kind of short stretch of a long game that wipes out momentum, lessens energy, causes shoulders to droop and games to be lost.
Those mental lapses, that loss of concentration that had mainly disappeared for most of this season once again bit the Toronto Raptors in the collective butt in one of the most important games of the season.
A 4 ½ minute stretch of the second quarter was the ruination of the Raptors here Tuesday night, a period that allowed the Cleveland Cavaliers to lock up and eventually put away Game 2 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference final.