Back before the Toronto Raptors were the defending champions there was often a rhythm to close games against the real superstars, the best. The two teams would wrestle back and forth, and at the end the LeBron or the Kobe — or one time, the Jeremy Lin — would go up a notch. And the Raptors oftentimes would lose.
Times have changed, in more ways than one. In Game 2 of the first-round bubble playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets, the Toronto Raptors found themselves in muck. The Nets started hot. Toronto had a bunch of steam coming from the engine.