Doubt is a pervasive force more powerful than optimism. Two quarters of piss-poor basketball on Saturday washing away a month of excitement over the Raptors’ post-season promise was proof of that.
In the two intervening days since the Raptors dropped yet another Game 1, red flags and negativity came from all directions. Kyle Lowry was ornery after a series-opening dud — hinting that he might deviate from his typically cerebral style of play in order to answer his teammates’ calls for more aggression. Toronto found itself in its familiar place in the general NBA discourse: at the butt-end of jokes, labelled as chokers incapable of adapting to playoff circumstances.