After falling to the Cavaliers 115-94 on Friday night, the Raptors are now on the verge of being eliminated by LeBron in the second round of the playoffs for the second year in a row. Last year, Toronto showed impressive resilience, taking Cleveland to six games and looking like a convincing title team at times. This year, not so much.
The Cavs own a commanding 3-0 series lead, and it's never really been close. The average margin of victory has been 18 points, with the low mark for the Raptors being a 23-point blowout last Wednesday in which LeBron practically did whatever he wanted on the court.
After that crushing loss, frustrated Raptors All-Star DeMar DeRozan told ESPN's Brian Windhorst, "If you can find somebody to stop LeBron in these moments, I'll give you $100."
Obviously $100 wasn't enough to stop LeBron in Game 3, but after the game DeRozan surprisingly changed his tune from frustration to admiration in response to a reporter who asked why Toronto can't seem to figure LeBron out.
"He seems a lot faster and quicker this year from last year," he said. "With that extra hop, step, everything out there on the court. It's incredible for somebody with that amount of mileage on him, to come back seeming faster and quicker that next year."
Somehow, at the ripe old age of 32, when most NBA players start slowing down, LeBron is getting faster. Given the talent level of this year's Cavaliers compared to last year's, it makes sense that LeBron would need to play at a higher level. It's just crazy that he's able to do so at will.
While it's well-known that DeRozan's idol is Kobe Bryant, that didn't stop him from heaping praise on LeBron with a very flattering comparison.
"It's the same thing all the nineties teams had to deal with in the Bulls," he said. "It's tough, but I wouldn't want to go up against anybody else to make it easier."
Sometimes in basketball you run up against an unstoppable force and there's nothing you can do. If the Raptors keep their core intact this off-season, we'll likely be treated to yet another Cleveland-Toronto series. By then LeBron will be a year older, and a year faster.