As the Toronto Raptors stood on the threshold of their greatest success, it was worth thinking back to one of their many playoff failures.
Time had just expired on their 2014 playoff run. The Brooklyn Nets were advancing to the second round. And Kyle Lowry, the Toronto point guard who had seen his attempt at a buzzer beater blocked by Paul Pierce, had just fallen to the floor in anguish when DeMar DeRozan arrived to commiserate and offer a spot of consolation.
“I told him I can live with him putting our season in his hands,” DeRozan would say later, “because without him, we wouldn’t be here.