Former Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet knows a thing or two about trying to stop LeBron James in the playoffs…and failing.

On a recent appearance on The Pivot Podcast, the current Houston Rockets man was asked if he felt defenseless going up against James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs during his Raptors days and his answer came as no surprise.

“Sometimes, yes. He had a 2nd or 3rd quarter against us where he decided he was going to shoot turnaround jumpers the whole quarter and there was nothing you could do,” VanVleet said. “… You knew what move he was gonna do and he still did it and there's nothing you could do.

“Bron definitely gave us a couple of those performances where it was like ‘what you gonna do?' Especially me, what am I going to do? There ain't nothing I can do. Steph [Curry] is a little bit different because I feel a little bit better. He's more closer to my size. But yeah, Bron was on a different time.”

The Raptors notably lost to the Cavs in the playoffs three years in a row from 2016 to 2018 with James playing a starring role each time. In 2016, they came back from 2-0 down only to lose 4-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals.

In 2017, they met in the Eastern Conference Semifinals only for the Raptors to get swept. The same occurred a year later and it was where the famous “LeBronto” line was born.

Safe to say, VanVleet and the Raptors were more than happy not to meet James in the East in 2019, which is when they would go on to win their first-ever NBA championship.