INDEPENDENCE, Ohio – Upon their return from Canada, the Cavaliers had nothing to declare at US Customs.
Their lead in the Eastern Conference finals had already been confiscated.
Cleveland was stripped of its dominance and a 2-0 advantage during a long weekend in Toronto, where the growing-confident-by-the-shot Raptors, propelled by a crowd and city that believes they can make the NBA Finals, won two straight games.
“They flipped the script on us,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said.
After being throttled by a combined 50 points in Games 1 and 2, the Raptors turned a series that began with blowouts into a best-of-3, winner-take-all slugfest. There wasn’t supposed to be a Game 5, and now there will be a Game 6 as well.
Unable to contain Toronto All-Star guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan from scoring or keep Raptors super sub Bismack Biyombo off the boards, the Cavs have put themselves in a predicament.
Gone is their entire margin for error, some of their swagger and any aura of invincibility that surrounded them after reeling off 10 straight wins to open the postseason.
And as the teams prepared for Game 5 on Wednesday night, the pressure has swung back on superstar LeBron James and the Cavs, who spent Tuesday in film sessions breaking down what went wrong during their visit to Toronto.