On Monday afternoon, a seven-second clip of the postgame handshakes following the Toronto Raptors' loss to San Antonio over the weekend began making the social media rounds.
In it, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich leans in to say something to Raptors coach Dwane Casey. There's no audio. Lip readers at a San Antonio fan account suggested that Popovich said, "I think you're getting to the finals. I swear to God. No bullshit."
Cue the usual Canadian response after any American notices that we are still up here and that we are alive – "This must be really, really huge!" Especially so since it's coming from pro basketball's cranky Pope.
Before Tuesday's game against Charlotte, Casey tore the balloon out of a hopeful country's hands and stepped on it.
"I don't remember anything about us being in the finals or champion or whatever," Casey shrugged. "He was pulling my leg if he said it."
Still, there were questions.
In the interests of Responsible Journalism, I watched the video several dozen times and was able to determine that I really need to find a hobby or something. Maybe get a pet.
Because spending this much time cogitating a dubious conversation involving an imaginary event that's three conceptual playoff series away from happening cannot be mentally healthy.
But since this is a Toronto sports franchise we're talking about, here we are.
The last 10 days of the season will be an odd time for the Raptors. They are locked into second place in the Eastern Conference. It's conceivable that they will overtake Cleveland for first, but not likely.
They have nothing to play for, but plenty to lose if things end up going wrong. There's a lot going on here that can be used to beat them up retrospectively.
Local hoops Kremlinologists will be attentive to any signs of a letdown (like last year), overconfidence (like last year) or significant hidden injuries (like last year). If those can be found, woe betides this roster. They can't fold twice and continue to exist as currently constituted.
There's also the question of how to comport themselves in these final games.
On Thursday and Friday, they'll travel to Atlanta and then back home for Indiana. The Pacers are one of two likely first-round opponents. The other is Detroit.
Should the Raptors rest their starters Friday and goose Indiana's chances of finishing seventh? Maybe. If you apply a position-by-position, strength-versus-strength comparison, Toronto shapes up better against the Pacers than the Pistons. But only just.
When that idea was put to Casey, he recoiled.
"The basketball gods will get you every time if you start trying to mess with the game. You've got to take whatever the standings give you," Casey said. "You can't sit here and say, 'I'd much rather play them. We match up better.' Nah, because you'll get what you asked for."
It was put to Casey that that's what sank them last year. They wanted Washington. And then they (disastrously) got Washington.
"I never said that," Casey growled.
In the small pause that followed, someone asked: "So who do you want to play?"
Casey didn't appreciate the joke. He began picking out the schlubs in the scrum by name, and said he'd like to play five of them.
(For legal purposes, I'm going to consider that a binding oral contract. My suit against the NBA for mid-level exception money is pending. If they ask me to actually play, I look forward to tearing both sides of my groin during the national anthems.)
The entire Raptors season has amounted to that special quiet that descends on a theatre as the lights dim. Despite all the performance superlatives and new records, TV numbers are down. Fewer people are talking about the team. Like the organization itself, everyone's been scarred by recent history.
"I wasn't here last year, but from what I heard, it was disappointing," Bismack Biyombo said Tuesday. He said it softly, as if he was afraid of being overheard by one of the bereaved.
No one fits better into that category than the coach. It's his job to eat failures so that the players can forget them. And you can see that it's worn on him. Some of the lightness has left him this year. He's flintier, a little less inclined to shrug off the bad days (though there haven't been many).
While the players have had their ups – a hometown all-star game; general improvement across the roster; more money in the offing for many people – Casey is necessarily stuck in the past. His season is just about to begin. If it goes poorly, he won't have to worry about another one in Toronto.
In that sense, Casey is the stand-in for the fan base. If you care about this team, this is no longer about the journey. That got old quickly. It's time for the Raptors to start arriving.
It's hard to argue with Casey's philosophy on how to manage that – don't concern yourself with handling the opposition. Handle yourselves instead.
On paper, imaginary Popovich is right. This team could be in the finals (if he meant the conference as opposed to the final pairing).
The time to start thinking about that is just after they get there, and not a moment before.
Cathal Kelly