Raptors refuse to graciously exit NBA’s velvet-roped party

Let the record show: No American-based NBA franchise has ever won an Eastern Conference Finals game in Canada. Even LeBron James, once he heads north, loses some of his super powers.

Maybe it’s overzealous customs officials (if so, give them a raise, pronto). Maybe NBA players are so used to rolling up here in February with their fur-lined hoods pulled up against the chill that when they’re playing here in late May, the sun comes out and it’s skirts, T-shirts and the light bouncing off Lake Ontario, they just lose their focus. Completely understandable.

Or maybe it’s just the Toronto Raptors, the only NBA team Canada has left, are better than anyone really wants to believe. Or maybe the Air Canada Centre, with volumes exceeding space shuttle (the one with the cool robot arm made in Canada) launch decibels, has become such a dangerous, difficult place to play that you pity the poor American-based team that has to come up here and win on the road this time of year.

Related stories:

Kyle Lowry scores 35 points as Raptors top Cavaliers 105-99; series tied 2-2

Stephen A. Smith apologizes to ‘all Canadians everywhere’ after Raptors’ win

Biyombo block on LeBron has fans buzzing as Raptors pull even with Cavaliers

Who knows exactly what’s going on; all that is known for sure is that if you were looking for an American NBA expert who thought that the Eastern Conference Finals would be tied 2-2 and heading back to Cleveland for Game 5 before the series started, let alone after the Cavs jumped out to an (admittedly) commanding 2-0 lead, you couldn’t find one.

All 18 of ESPN’s basketball personalities predicted the Cavaliers would easily shove the Raptors aside; only three of them thought the series would go as long as six games. Congratulations to them, they still have a chance to be right.

The rest? Hey, at least resident ESPN loud talker Stephen A. Smith got in early at the humble pie trough, weighing in moments after the Raptors’ surprising, maybe even shocking, 105-99 win in Game 4 that tied the series, pushing it to Cleveland for Game 5 and — most ominously for Cavs fans and broadcast executives — guarantees a return for Game 6 on Friday.

Smith was loud in predicting the Raptors sudden and certain demise, and — to his credit — swift in attempting to make amends:

“I can’t even put into words how stunned I am, I can’t believe what I saw,” Smith said following the Raptors’ taut, in-doubt-to-the-end win in Game 4. “I have to be a man of my word and just apologize to Canada, all Canadians everywhere, because I certainly thought that this was going back to Cleveland 3-1 with the Cavs closing this series out Wednesday night so I wouldn’t have to go back to Canada and go through customs and all of that other nonsense. That’s not how it all went down, that’s not how it was meant to be.”

On behalf of all Canadian basketball fans, of all Canadians, the way the Raptors are rolling — we’ll think about it.

Conspiracy theories are practically woven into the fabric of the NBA, although the thin garment never wears well when thrown over the garment of common sense. But heading into Game 4 you could be forgiven for thinking an invisible hand the size of Bismack Biyombo’s paw was guiding the whole undertaking. Who knows what will happen in Game 5? After Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan combined for 67 points, including nine and 12, respectively, in the fourth quarter as the Raptors held off a late Cavs rally, maybe it will be the U.S. customs officials that get all nitpicky?

The Cavaliers represent the United States, star power and a dream Finals rematch between LeBron and Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors, or at the very least the Cavs and the star-driven Oklahoma City Thunder.

Heading into Game 4, with James complaining about the physical way the Raptors were playing him in the series — “I will protect myself.” — the expectation was that he would spend most of the game at the free-throw line. That didn’t quite come true, but he did seem to be playing with some kind of force field around him. He and the Cavaliers could do no wrong.

For the first time in more than six years, the Raptors didn’t shoot a free throw in the first half. Meanwhile, when Biyombo met James at the top of the square to block an alley-oop just before halftime, he was called for a very shaky foul — the second time in as many games Biyombo got the whistle after a seemingly clean block on James.

Twitter thought the fix was in.

Things turned around in the second half — the Raptors shot 19 free throws to nine total for the Cavaliers — but Cleveland is still plus-25 from the line in the series, a margin that likely won’t get smaller as they head back home.

You don’t even have to believe NBA commissioner Adam Silver is trying monitoring your WiFi to see why.

The Raptors in the NBA Finals represents three more weeks of bad television ratings, stateside at least. You could almost hear the broadcast execs, tugging on their ties: “We have enough cute shots of Jurassic Park to last a lifetime, how about some star power!”

The Raptors themselves are smart enough to claim not to hear the noise, or feel the doubt.

“People have their own opinions,” said Lowry after he went for 35 points, five assists and five rebounds in Game 4. “Everybody has their own opinions, like I always say. We go and do what we do and that’s all we’re focused on is our team and what we believe.

But you must know everyone not from Canada wants your team eliminated?

“Not aware at all,” said Lowry. “All we worry about is what’s in our locker room. That’s all that matters.”

Privately, they don’t feel that way. There’s an awareness that they are like the unwanted guests at a black tie event they showed up to in jeans and work boots.

It’s probably not fair to suggest the Raptors are some version of the “Little Engine That Could” — they have two all-stars and all get paid millions to play a game. But there’s no doubt that as the series goes along, it feels like the Raptors are the unwelcome backwards cousins who don’t know it’s time for them to graciously exit the NBA’s velvet-roped cocktail party where James and the Cavaliers are the honoured guests.

Well, the Raptors and the rest of Canada have pulled up a couple of corner seats at the bar and have no plans on leaving until closing time, which was supposed to be here already, but isn’t.

Have another beer, and none of that watered down stuff. Canada remains undefeated in the Eastern Conference Finals. This could go on for a while, whether our neighbours to the south want it to or not.