Three years ago this Wednesday, LeBron James nearly ended an era of Raptors basketball. Instead, he had to settle for ending a Raptors season — again.
He had done it in 2016, when he put up 33 points and 11 rebounds in the clinching game of the Eastern Conference Finals. He did it the next year, too, as he put one embarrassing highlight after another on the Raptors, sweeping them aside in the second round.
The Raptors instituted a “culture reset” in the wake of that loss, and it really seemed as if something fundamental had changed about the Raptors. Their offence was more egalitarian, they finished first in the Eastern Conference, and James’ Cavaliers were clearly a weaker version of their past selves.
