The Toronto Raptors refused to use Monday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers as any kind of measuring stick against the defending NBA champions and, with three-quarters of the regular season remaining, that made entire sense.
But they do use games to measure themselves against themselves and they will awake this morning to know they posted a failing grade.
Torched on defence and with no production to speak of from the frontcourt, Toronto saw its six-game winning streak come to a screeching halt at the Air Canada Centre in a 116-112 loss administered primarily by LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving.