Toronto Raptors: 3 takeaways from Game 4 vs. Cavaliers

As is annual tradition, the Toronto Raptors were thoroughly defeated by a LeBron James team. Here are three takeaways from their latest playoff disappointment.

For the third year in a row, the Toronto Raptors are Charlie Brown, LeBron James is Lucy and the football is playoff success. He is the Thanos to their Iron Man, the broom to their baby Charmander, the Chris Pratt feeding a steady dose of Ls to Jurassic Park’s main attraction.

Whatever possible amount of disrespect you can show an opponent without being a poor sport, the King has done it to these Raptors, the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. For three years straight, the Cleveland Cavaliers have sent the North home, with 12 losses and only two wins to show for it.

To be perfectly honest, this series was over after the Raptors’ oh-so-Raptory collapse in Game 1. It was clear in that moment this team had neither the mental fortitude nor the wing defense to finally overcome LeBron, and given Toronto’s reputation for choking, this self-sustaining prophecy made the ultimate outcome all but inevitable.

In other words, this was always going to be either “Raptors in 6 or 7” or “Cavs in 4.” In Game 4, it mercifully came to an end, with LeBron leading the way to a 128-93 shellacking with 29 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. Kevin Love added 23 while J.R. Smith put up 15 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting in the first quarter.

Jonas Valanciunas led the way for the Raptors with 18 points off the bench, DeMar DeRozan and C.J. Miles added 13 apiece and Kyle Lowry was a virtual no-show, finishing with five points and 10 assists in an elimination game.

The Raptors’ season ends in agonizingly depressing fashion once again, as they became the first No. 1 seed to fall short of the conference finals since the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2013:

The question is, what did we learn from Game 4 and this series in general, aside from the obvious “LeBron owns Toronto”? To sort out this baffling yet thoroughly predictable result, here are three quick takeaways from the series.