An afternoon start. The Brooklyn Nets. An unexpectedly strong regular season shifting public opinion. Kyle Lowry playing excellent basketball, as questions surround his teammate, the team’s No. 1 scorer.
You’d be forgiven for thinking the Toronto Raptors are back in 2014, when this era of the franchise began. It was six years ago – and change, thanks to the pandemic-induced delay – that Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas and Dwane Casey lined up across from a veteran-heavy Nets team for Game 1, the Raptors’ first playoff game in half a decade. This time around, Lowry is flanked by the ascendant Pascal Siakam, stalwart Marc Gasol and coach Nick Nurse, standing opposite a Nets team in a holding pattern with two injured superstars.
It’s different now. The Raptors are the favourites and a playoff appearance from them is an accepted inevitability (well). A first-round matchup is not the goal as the team attempts the unlikeliest NBA…