I have never seen so many people bury a team after a single overtime loss in a 7 game series.
Seems irrational right? It totally is.
But still, I was really blown away by how visibly the Raptors wilted in the moment trying to beat LeBron.
Some of that was confirmation bias, I guess -- it was what I feared happening and it seemed like that's exactly what happened.
But I can't explain how that game went any other way. The Cavs are not a good team, LeBron is the only player on that team I fear right now (given that Love is clearly playing hurt). The Raptors should be able to score on them.
Yet there the Raps were, despite everything they'd said all season about how they've changed, the offense bogging down, and their two All-Star guards completely unable to get a good shot and seemingly lacking any confidence to take a shot in crunch time.
The only guy on the floor who looked like he believed the Raptors should win the game was Valanciunas, and he apparently had spent himself by the end of the fourth quarter because he missed layup after layup. Either that or Tristan Thompson had him spooked and rushing his attempts.
Bottom line, yeah, it's irrational, but it's also really hard to reach any other conclusion than that the Raptors -- or at least Lowry and Derozan -- mentally folded. Yes, it's only the first game, but it's also hard to not assume based on the last few years of playoff history that Game 1 won't be representative of the rest of the series.