INDIANAPOLIS—If you want to boil the NBA down to its essence, it comes down to stars. They define teams, years, championships, eras. They are what every single general manager is trying desperately to capture, to conjure, to seduce. Every team has a star, but the real superstars — the ones who, surrounded by good talent, can compete for a title — are the rarest beasts in basketball creation, and they are worth whatever you can pay them.
The Toronto Raptors are built around two stars, or at least, all-stars, and they are failing. Toronto is tied 2-2 in this best-of-seven first-round series with the Indiana Pacers after a hapless 100-83 loss in Game 4.