There’s nothing quite like it — “our Super Bowl” is how Kyle Lowry described it, a matter of “survive or don’t survive” he said — and if anyone tells you they know how a Game 7 will play out they are either just hoping or blowing smoke.
It is a beast like no other, win-or-home, euphoria or despair, validation or condemnation, and a study in will and determination and heart like nothing else.
Through all sorts of wild swings — good games followed by terrible ones, brutal quarters preceded by great ones — the Toronto Raptors and Indiana Pacers have arrived at the defining moment: The seventh and deciding game of their NBA Eastern Conference playoff series.