Since nothing has ever been easy for the Toronto Raptors, one supposes there was no point in starting now.
Gifted a chance to take a stranglehold on their playoff series with the Miami Heat, the Raptors surrendered a nine-point lead in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. In the resultant overtime, they handed back all the momentum as Miami won it 94-87.
Just as it was in the Indiana Pacers series, this is now a best-of-three.
Since at least one of Toronto's all-stars must be in the midst of an existential crisis at all times, DeMar DeRozan took the nightly duty. On aggregate, he's been bad in these playoffs. He hasn't been this bad.
Either unable or unwilling to attack the rim, DeRozan instead stood back and built a small shrine to his diminished postseason reputation out of bricks. He left the game with a few minutes remaining in the third quarter and did not return until Kyle Lowry fouled out just as regulation ended. DeRozan finished the night on 4-for-17 shooting. His shooting hand is injured, but that doesn't explain his flaccid effort and poor decision-making.
He and Lowry combined for more turnovers (seven) than field goals (six).
The truly frustrating thing was that so many of their teammates played themselves into a crooked groove. Bismack Biyombo and Cory Joseph were excellent throughout. Terrence Ross provided offence at crucial moments. DeMarre Carroll came into the game after a tepid start.
Everyone else struggled to find his personal Mendoza line of competence. Only DeRozan and Lowry couldn't manage to overcome a downbeat outing. And, boy, was it ever that.
Every game of this series has been its own kind of ugly. This one must never be re-broadcast in the vicinity of mirrors. They may explode.
If all playoff series are wars of attrition, this one has now become a rear-guard action.
Both Miami and Toronto came into Game 4 missing their starting centres. Hassan Whiteside is the defensive key to the Miami Heat. Jonas Valanciunas had been Toronto's best overall player during this postseason There may be something in this – Miami hasn't been able to let go. They've listed Whiteside as day-to-day with a sprained knee. It's notable that he is due a massive raise in free agency this summer. There is no time that a seven-footer wants to fiddle about with knee injuries. It is hard to imagine Whiteside taking any sort of risk if he's seriously hurt.
By contrast, Toronto gave up on Valanciunas immediately, ruling him out of the entire series.
"Hopefully, they're going to win this series and the next series I'll be helping them," Valanciunas said before Monday's game. He attended shoot-around wearing a walking cast and limping badly.
Toronto announced Biyombo as Valanciunas' replacement hours before tipoff. Lacking a proper replacement, Miami left it until just before game time to tap collapsing siege tower Amar'e Stoudemire as their big. While Stoudemire is sizable (6-foot-11), no one would mistake him for a proper protect-the-rim centre.
In the warm-ups, the first potential hurdle was cleared. As they began the Canadian anthem, Miami's Dwyane Wade was lined up beside his teammates. During The Star Spangled Banner, he stood there mumbling to himself something that was definitely not a lyric. Maybe some red-state scolds will pick up Canada's baton and begin beating him for that.
As anyone could have predicted, Toronto's early attack was arranged around Biyombo's hands of stone and class-clown/playoff-debutant Bebe Noguiera.
Within three minutes, Biyombo gave a small demonstration of Miami's problem with a flat-footed dunk over Stoudemire. In a more dignified world, Stoudemire would've retired on the spot.
On the night, the 23-year-old Congolese put in the best performance on either team.
There is considerable doubt that Toronto can afford Biyombo when he opts out of his current contract at the end of the season. Monday night was proof that whatever he costs, he's probably worth it.
When Biyombo came out, it was Bebe's turn to dominate a once-great franchise. In case you're new to the Bebe experience, here's the scouting report on the 23-year-old Brazilian: He says weird things really earnestly and has phenomenal hair. Also, he plays professional basketball.
Somehow, Miami's little-man lineup made Bebe briefly look like Bill Russell. Around the time that he was ambling unhindered to the basket for an open dunk, you were beginning to think this all might work out.
After one quarter, Biyombo and Bebe had half of Toronto's 21 points – all of them either on dunks or free throws.
If anyone else had showed up, it would've really amounted to something. But at the half, the familiar problem: All the guys who should be scoring weren't.
Though facing a team denuded of all talent in the middle, the Raptors decided to stand at the perimeter and shoot. Then they couldn't make shots.
DeRozan was deep into another one of his horror shows. He started the game with an airball. He missed an open lay-up. He missed free throws. He was a timid presence. DeRozan is suffering from a thumb injury on his shooting hand, but this doesn't explain why he continues to make terrible decisions.
Lowry was having the same issues. You'd hoped after a remarkable second half in Game 3 that he'd put aside whatever doubts are ailing him. They were back in force for much of the night. He may be off-setting that lack with his toughness, but if so, only just.
At the half, Toronto trailed 44-35 in a game they could easily have been winning.
That trend would emerge in the third quarter as Miami assumed the role of pratfallers, while Toronto switched to straight man.
If you had the experience of switching over to the Golden State-Portland game, you'd be hard-pressed to explain how those teams are playing the same sport.
It was proof that even bad basketball can be a sort of fun to watch when it matters. But thus far in this match-up, it's been an exercise in masochism regardless of where your rooting interest lies.
Cathal Kelly