Hall-of-Famer Charles Barkley guaranteed them a win tonight.
The odds makers made them a seven point home court favorite.
The NBA’s Toronto Raptors had lost seven consecutive playoff games (dating back to 2016) to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
They were motivated. They were overdue.
They lost. Again.
The Raptors losing streak versus the Cavs is now up to eight with Games 3 and 4 of the 2018 Eastern Conference semifinals coming in Cleveland. LeBron James will get some much needed rest coming up very soon as Toronto has pretty much given up and mailed it in.
“One, two, three, Vacation!”
The NBA’s Toronto Raptors entered the 2018 NBA playoffs as the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Cleveland was the fourth seed in the East.
After dropping this many games in a row to the same team in the playoffs, the streak has now become a mental block for Toronto.
What this team needs is some group therapy.
TNT television commentator, Kenny Smith, summed it up very well during Game 1. In the dressing room prior to the game, the coach will draw up a game plan and highlight the bullet-point keys for his team to focus on for victory.
The Raptors have now received eight straight pregame pep talks and strategy sessions from their coaches about how to beat the Cavs. The big problem is that there isn’t a player in that Toronto locker room who believes what they are hearing, because it simply hasn’t worked in the past eight playoff encounters.
Cleveland has successfully entered into the collective brains of this Eastern Conference opponent. There is no reason to keep watching this mess (unless you are a Cavs fans, of course).
The series is, for all practical purposes, likely over.
It’s similar to watching Lucy pull that football away from Charlie Brown as he tries to kick it. The same thing happens annually.
Hey, Chuck! Meet your long lost cousin from The North!
Same time, next year?