They honed the new system. They reeled off a franchise-record 59 regular-season wins, and two playoff victories, proving it worked.
But when the moment got big and the pressure intensified in Sunday night’s Game 4, the Raptors abandoned it. Out the window was the ball-sharing, three-point-focused offence that helped produce the NBA’s second-best win-loss record. In its place was an ugly version of a tired, old act. Raptors fans are familiar with previous incarnations of Two Guys Taking Turns Going One on One. This showing, like many of its predecessors, did not go well.
The good news was DeMar DeRozan, in the course of the fourth quarter of Sunday’s loss in Washington, became the first player in Raptors history to score 1,000 playoff points.