Wow, what more is there to say? Lebron rips the heart out of the Toronto Raptors again and almost certainly puts an end to their Championship aspirations for a 3^rd successive season. After putting on a majestic performance in Game 2 on Thursday night, he scored 42 points and was making fade away turnaround jumpers with regularity. He put the nail in the Raptors’ season on Saturday with an off-hand floater, with the last shot of the game to give the Cavs a 2 point win and a 3-0 series lead.

The Raptors bench sunk back into their seats as Lebron carried the ball the length of the floor and banked in an almost impossible shot to effectively end the series. The Raptors did well to come back in the 4^th quarter and a 3 from rookie OG Anunoby tied things up with 8 seconds left. But ultimately it seems Lebron has the mental edge over this Raptors team. They don’t seem to be able to produce their best basketball when it really counts.

Kyle Lowry, who has been criticised in the past for not performing in the playoffs, had a huge 4^th quarter. But he was not supported by fellow All-star Demar DeRozan who had 8 points and was benched by Dwayne Casey for the whole of the 4th. There were perhaps some questionable decisions from the refs, particularly a foul called on Serge Ibaka late in the 4^th when he appeared to go straight up to challenge Lebron James at the rim.

This year was supposed to be different for the Raptors. The narrative coming into the series was that Lebron was tired and didn’t have enough help. The Raptors had had more rest, were younger and, crucially this year, much deeper than the Cavs as they had one of the best benches during the regular season. Yet Lebron James seems to just raise his game against these Raptors. He has their number and I think they know it. Toronto will look back at game 1 as the pivotal moment of this series when they had the Cavs on the ropes but couldn’t finish them off. They only scored 18 points in that 4^th quarter and allowed a tired Lebron back into the game.

I expect the Cavs to sweep aside the Raptors tonight to set up an Easter Conference Finals meeting with Boston. As for Toronto their ownership might be looking to break up the party. The relationship between Dwayne Casey and Demar Derozan will be heavily scrutinized this offseason. Casey was almost vindicated in his decision to bench DeRozan as the Raptors eradicated a 16 point lead with DeRozan out of the game. Ultimately your franchise player should not be on the bench for the most important quarter of your season and it might ultimately cost Casey his job. There have been calls to blow this Raptors team up, but this is difficult as you have Serge Ibaka, Kyle Lowry and Demar Derozan all on long term contracts. After their performances this post-season you probably won’t get their full value back for them through trades so the only change that can really be made, is a coaching one. What we do know is that this team currently constructed cannot beat Lebron James.