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Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals was, for lack of a better term, a complete shit show. In case you missed it, Toronto flopped in Ohio once again in the form of a 116-78 rout.
The Dinos have now lost three games in Quicken Loans Arena by a combined 88 points. Should we be surprised? This is the Toronto Raptors we're talking about. Doing things the hard way is in this team's DNA.
The good news is the series is shifting back to the Air Canada Centre for Game 6. In eight meetings between the Raps and Cavs in both the regular season and playoffs, home teams are a perfect 8-0.
The raucous fans north of the border have clearly played a part in slowing down the high-flying Cavaliers. After the wine and gold took a 3-2 series lead, point guard Kyrie Irving said the atmosphere in Toronto was "probably the first legitimate two road games that I've experienced in my playoff career." We the North, indeed.
Perhaps the only good thing to come out of Game 5 was the return of starting centre Jonas Valanciunas. JV, who has been sidelined since May 7 with a sprained right ankle, scored nine points in 18 minutes. We missed you, Big Science.
"I don't know why we get so comfortable once we put ourselves in a tougher situation," DeMar DeRozan told reporters after Wednesday's disastrous showing. "We've been doing it all year and we always bounce back. I think we just thrive off adversity."
It's been a hell of a ride in these playoffs for Canada's lone NBA club. Let's see if they have anything left in their bag of tricks.
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