After winning a franchise record 59 games and finishing as the number one seed in the east for the first time in their history, the Toronto Raptors were confident that this was finally the year they could overcome the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

They enjoyed a terrific regular season and had one of the deepest and most talented rosters in the entire league. 

With the Cavs looking less than convincing all year and then scraping through the first round in a gruelling seven-game series with the Indiana Pacers, the Raptors knew they wouldn't have a better chance to end LeBron James' dominance. 

But unfortunately, it proved to be a sense of deja vu for Toronto as they faltered and suffered elimination at the hands of the Cavaliers for a third straight year. 

For the second consecutive season, Cleveland completed a sweep over their Canadian opponents and have advanced to their fourth successive Eastern Conference Finals. 

Following their 128-93 obliteration on Monday night, the Raptors have not only been bounced from the playoffs but will be taking a piece of unwanted history with them. 

They have now become the first team in 49 years to finish as the number one seed and be swept before the conference finals. 

The only other team to suffer such a fate in a seven-game series was the Baltimore Bullets, who fell to the New York Knicks 4-0 in the 1969 Eastern Division semifinals, via TheScore.

The last top seed to suffer a sweep in the east was the Atlanta Hawks in the 2015 ECF, which also came at the hands of LeBron and the Cavs.

James now owns the personal record for the most series sweeps in NBA history with 12. 

Dating back to 2016, the Ohio-based outfit has won 10 straight games against Toronto. 

"Maybe they just got our number," DeMar DeRozan said after the game, per ESPN. "Things just don't go right for us. We couldn't get it done. We had opportunity after opportunity after opportunity."

The All-Star's season ended on a sour note as he was ejected late in the third quarter for a flagrant foul on Jordan Clarkson as he went up for a layup.

The Raptors put together the best team in the east and came into the postseason as a legitimate threat but after another disappointing exit, it's back to the drawing board where president Masai Ujiri will have some big decisions to make moving forward. 

Dwane Casey is likely to win Coach of the Year and has done a great job this campaign, but his future will certainly be in question after another playoff failure.

Listen HERE to episode two of the new GiveMeSport NBA podcast, featuring New York Times senior writer Marc Stein.

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