As Magic head coach Steve Clifford said Tuesday, this is the best iteration of the Raptors he’s seen in recent years. The best post-Vince, surely. (SNJeffBlair)
. I mean, we didn’t play the other teams that are still left four straight times, so it’s tough to tell in that way …
Like just about any cliché or old ‘saw’ about any league or any sport – defence wins championships, home-field or court or ice advantage is huge, goaltending wins championships, you have to put your best player in the best positions to excel – the notion that having the best player on the court gives you a pretty good start toward winning an NBA game seems often exacerbated by recency bias. But, for the first time in a long time, we might get a chance to test that theory out here.
This is not to say that Siakam and Lowry are passengers. But work with me on this: Leonard was the best player in terms of reputation going into this series. By far. He will be against the 76ers, too – as in, even up you wouldn’t trade him for anybody on the other team. At any rate, at least he’s still playing, which is more than can be said for another much-ballyhooed MLSE off-season acquisition.
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