This was supposed to be the year the Toronto Raptors made it to the NBA Finals. With the Boston Celtics suffering long-term injuries to their two best players and the Cleveland Cavaliers having basically a B-squad team around LeBron James, the table was set.

After all, the Raptors finished as the top team in the East during the regular season. The team boasts two of the best players in the league in Demar Derozan and Kyle Lowry and has surrounded them with a solid lineup consisting of veterans like Jonas Valanciunas and Serge Ibaka.  

Strong on both sides of the ball, it looked as if the East was Toronto’s for the taking. A six-game first round series against a feisty Washington Wizards team didn’t do much to dispel that notion.

And to diminish this Toronto team and what’s it done or how it’s played would be unfair.

LeBron James has reached the NBA Finals every year for the last seven. So it shouldn’t come as a huge shock that he looks destined for the big dance once again, and it is, once again, at the expense of the Toronto Raptors.

After two extremely tight games that featured historic performances from James, plus another in which it wasn’t even close, the Cavaliers are up three games to none against Toronto, with Game 4 set to go tonight in Cleveland.

https://twitter.com/cavs/status/993199971057848320

Consider that, together in the three games they’ve played Derozan and Lowry have 120 points. Not bad, but not exactly dominant. James has 107 on his own in the same three games.

Sports have a way of making the most jaded feel hopeful. Thus all the reasoning earlier in this piece was given much weight from the city’s media and fans.

But James is Toronto’s bogeyman, and only Father Time will be able to stop him. Toronto will have to do like Houston and Golden State and assemble a team stock full of all-stars if they’re to have any chance at defeating James while he’s still at the height of his powers. At 33 years old, he’s shown absolutely no signs of slowing down, so Toronto has to hope that Lowry and Derozan are able to keep up their strong play as they get older.

The heartbreaking part of all this for the Raptors? It’s quite likely that James bolts Cleveland in the offseason when his contract is up. The Los Angeles Lakers have been getting a ton of play as his next possible destination.

And while the Raptors would love to see James head west, the Celtics will ostensibly be at full health next season and champing at the bit to make a run to the Finals.

It’s very possible that the Raptors might not make the NBA Finals during the Derozan and Lowry era. That would be a shame, yes, but it wouldn’t be anything to be ashamed about. LeBron James is one of the best three players ever to play in the NBA. And of all the major league sports, basketball is the one that’s most susceptible to the greatness of one individual. James is showing that this year in getting an average Cavaliers team one win away from the Eastern Conference Finals.

There’s not much to complain about if you’re a Raptors fan. You’ve got a front row seat for one of the greatest ever. Might as well just sit back and enjoy it.