The Toronto Raptors have officially turned their attention to the NBA Draft, free agency, and a critical offseason of roster decisions. The rest of the Eastern Conference postseason continues to play out without them, however, and watching the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons grind through a seven-game second-round series has become a painful reminder of what was sitting right in front of Toronto this NBA postseason.
The Pistons forced a Game 7 on Friday with a Game 6 win in Cleveland, sending the series back to Detroit for Sunday. Neither side has looked dominant, which was also the case in their respective first-round series that also went seven games.
By all accounts, the winner of this series will represent one of the more vulnerable Eastern Conference Finals participants in recent memory. Meanwhile, a rested New York Knicks team awaits.
Toronto's first-round exit at the hands of those same Cavaliers came in seven games, and the Raptors were nowhere near full strength. Starting point guard Immanuel Quickley missed all seven games, while Brandon Ingram missed two more (and was not himself in the five he did play). The team that hung with Cleveland for a full series was doing so without its primary playmaker and, for two full games, without one of its top scoring options.
That context continues to sting as the Raptors look at this Eastern Conference bracket. A Cavaliers team that needed seven games to defeat a banged-up Raptors squad is now in a seven-game series against a Pistons team that needed seven games and a 3-1 comeback to defeat the No. 8 seed Orlando Magic in round one. Neither team has separated from the field, and will likely be the underdog against New York.
Detroit's roster features no postseason-tested star, despite Cade Cunningham’s continued emergence, and Cleveland's core has yet to fully show what many felt it was capable of when James Harden was acquired at the deadline.
A healthy Raptors roster was never going to be a championship favorite, but they did not need to be one to advance out of this side of the bracket, or at least reach the ECF. The path was right there, which makes their first-round exit hurt even more. Things can change quickly in the NBA, and a postseason path like this one does not always come back around the following year.
While the Raptors still have a foundational piece in Scottie Barnes, and a complementary duo of Ingram and RJ Barrett, this postseason will be remembered in Toronto as a major what-if?