Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James owns the Toronto Raptors, plain and simple. During the last offseason, the Raptors completely changed their style of offense with the idea of finally getting past the Cavs, but that still wasn't enough as the Raptors were swept in the second round series.
LeBron James (34.0 PPG, 11.3 APG, 8.3 RPG) puts together a complete 2nd round performance, lifting the @cavs to the Eastern Conference Finals! #WhateverItTakes #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/beoLMLLOwc
— NBA (@NBA) May 8, 2018
For Raptors coach Dwane Casey, he hasn't given up hope yet that one year they can be the team that eventually ends James' reign in the Eastern Conference.
Article Continues Below“You're looking at probably one of the guys that's going to go down as one of the greatest ever, and is a matchup nightmare for anybody. I think anybody whose played against him will see that, but at some point, that's going to come down. That's going to change,” Casey told the media via Def Pen Hoops.
“We've seen it with Michael (Jordan), we've seen it with Kobe (Bryant), we've seen it with a lot of great players. The Toronto organization wants to be the one who knocks that gate down. For whatever reason, we got the unlucky draw every year of going against him. But there's going to come a time when that gauntlet is going to come down. And why not us?”
Casey seems to be trying to give off some positive vibes, but how much can Casey actually believe that. This was arguably James' weakest team in years and the Raptors still couldn't get it done.
The best hope for the Raptors might be to hope and pray that James signs with a team in the Western Conference because it seems for as long as The King is in the East, the Raptors will be playing for runners-up.