For an uncomfortably long stretch of time, about a decade ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers served as a playoff measuring stick for the Toronto Raptors - and not in a good way.
It was an awkward period.
For the first time in the franchise's two decades of existence, it had become quite good, with a 50-win season followed by another, then another. But just as Raptors fans began convincing themselves of the possibility of postseason success, the Cavaliers and LeBron James showed up to put them back in their place.
There was the time James pretended to drink from a courtside fan's beer during one stretch of Cavs dominance. There was the back-to-back sweeps, and the game when the Raptors erased a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter, with DeMar DeRozan benched, only to see James hit a running floater as time expired to seal the win.
Whatever the Raptors were at that moment, the point was made over and over: they just weren't good enough to seriously compete against a championship-caliber squad like the Cavaliers.
Through four games of the latest Raps-Cavs playoff matchup, no such grand pronouncements can be made. Toronto entered the series as a significant underdog, and two games in Cleveland showed why: the Raptors struggled to create half-court offense - a multi-season trend - while the Cavaliers rolled behind playoff-tested performers like Donovan Mitchell and James Harden.
Down 2-0 in the series, the Raptors faced questions both practical and existential. Could they make this a series? If not, what exactly was the point of this roster? In the modern NBA, is there any value in being just decent?
After collecting two wins in Toronto to even the series, the Raptors have answered the first question and shoved the others to the side - at least for now. The home playoff victories are a good reminder that this is, after all, supposed to be the point of sports. Why support a team if not to have those moments when a whole arena is on its feet and in full voice, as Scotiabank Arena was Sunday afternoon?
But Raptors fans with good memories will recall that in the first of their three playoff meetings with the Cavaliers back in the 2010s, Toronto also won two at home to tie the series, only to get walloped in the next two.
That kind of development in 2026 would be a surprise.
Sunday's Game 4 was such an awful shooting performance from both teams that the Raptors' 93-89 win should probably never be spoken of again. Still, the breakout play in this series of Scottie Barnes and, to a lesser extent, RJ Barrett has made up for the fact that Brandon Ingram, Toronto's most reliable regular-season scorer, has mostly been a black hole on offense.
At his best, Barnes has always been more of a do-everything guy than a go-to scorer, but he suddenly looks more like that on the big stage. Barrett, whose long-term fit on his hometown team has been a question all season, is staking his claim to remain in Raptors red.
On the other side, the Cavs are a bit of a mystery. They posted 64 wins last season but were ousted in the second round by the Indiana Pacers - a setback for a franchise that looked, up to that point, set up for sustained dominance.
Instead, Cleveland took a step back this year, making a big trade for Harden - a Hail Mary move given his previous playoff foibles - yet still finished behind Detroit, Boston, and New York in the conference. Although the Cavs were good over the season's second half, they still faced questions about whether they could challenge one of the East's top teams. It's a long way from what they looked like before flopping against the Pacers last postseason.
This swoon against Toronto only reinforced the doubts. Considering the Raptors' disastrous shooting Sunday afternoon, the Cavs could've seized control of the series with just a mildly competent offensive performance. Now, Toronto's hanging around.
Even still, the Raptors have made a trend of collapsing against elite teams in the closing stretch of contests, and they were there for the taking in Game 4.
Toronto trailed by eight points with just under five minutes remaining before going on a 17-5 run to pull out the victory. It's the kind of crash that a serious contender can't allow against an inexperienced playoff team.
Will any of that matter as the series gets down to the business end? Possibly not. The Raptors are ahead in the vibes battle right now. But they've been in that position against the Cavaliers before and still went home early.
Scott Stinson is a contributing writer for theScore.
