It arrives for every team with continued success, and it’s about to arrive for the Toronto Raptors. The burden of expectation. No longer a “show me” team that hasn’t won a first round series (that goes to the Isaiah-led Boston Celtics), the basketball community is looking at Toronto this spring with expectations of something greater.
The idea that the Raptors are the biggest challenger to the LeBron James empire is no longer a hot take. Like a little jalapeno seasoning spread over two dozen chips, if a “bold prediction” is repeated by enough people, it loses its spiciness.