Raptors Prove That They Can Choke Spectacularly Even When They're The Top Seed

After jumping out to an early lead, the Raptors caved and let the Cavaliers take a Game 1 victory in overtime tonight, 113-112.

Cleveland wasn’t particularly excellent here—there was no earth-shattering performance from LeBron (a triple-double, yeah, but that almost feels like a given from him at this point) and no support of any meaningful sort from Kevin Love. But Toronto still couldn’t put it together, squandering a big first-quarter lead that they were never able to regain.

The Raptors had chances here. Their last 11 field goal attempts in regulation, say—all of which they missed. With the game tied in the final seconds, Toronto should have had a chance to go for the win, but no one could bring the ball down and get a clear tip shot off in what should have been a pretty straightforward offensive rebound—not even with multiple chances to get it right. The Cavaliers then dominated the opening minutes of overtime, leading by seven a little more than halfway through.

Cleveland gave Toronto another big chance at the end, giving up six straight points and topping that off with a shot-clock violation to turn the ball over with 16 seconds remaining. But Fred VanVleet’s three-point attempt failed, and the Cavs got to hold on to their one-point lead.

The series has only just begun, sure! But it certainly still feels like Toronto has been here before.