ORLANDO -- Originally, the Toronto Raptors were going to practise at home yesterday, but switched course. They left first thing in the morning and worked out in the air-conditioned comfort of Florida in advance of their fifth-game elimination date against the Orlando Magic tonight.
Tough to tell why. No explanation was provided, though the call was made before the Raptors were strangled 106-94 in the fourth game on Saturday in front of 20,416 witnesses at the Air Canada Centre.
Maybe the motive for changing plans was that the more time spent near Walt Disney's tribute to the powers of make-believe could only help the Raptors live out their fantasies of NBA playoff legitimacy, which they cling to with a child's determination, ignoring all evidence to the contrary.
"You take it one game at a time," said Raptors all-star Chris Bosh, who had career playoff highs of 39 points and 15 rebounds go to waste on Saturday. "You can't win three at a time, you have to take it one by one, we can't worry about Game 6 or Game 7."
The problem is the Raptors are at long odds to win the fifth game, given that in the fourth game, they had the crowd behind them, led by seven with four minutes to play in the third quarter, enjoyed one of their franchise player's best games - and still wilted.
The Magic were no one's idea of an NBA heavyweight before the series began, but the Raptors have made them look every inch a contender, while exposing their own dreams of a 50-win season and a long playoff run as a fable.
Just as the gloss of the stock Disney characters, the Tooth Fairy and, yes, Santa Claus, is rubbed off over time, the Raptors' image as a young team rising fast is proving a rapidly thinning veneer.
Three convincing losses in four playoff games will do that, even more than an indifferent regular season.
The Raptors went into their series with the Magic healthy and rested. In Orlando, they even drew their most preferred opponent - a 52-win team, sure, but one without significant playoff experience or individual matchups for which Toronto had no reply.
But Orlando's steady and determined effort on Saturday not only gave it a stranglehold on the series, it also poked the final holes in the belief that Raptors president Bryan Colangelo has the franchise on the cusp of the elite.
The Magic look to be already there, and the contrast with the Raptors is stark.
Both teams have former first-round picks overall, both of whom are 22. The Magic's Dwight Howard is a work in progress in his fourth NBA season, but his physical gifts are so overwhelming that he's easily one of the top five young players in the NBA today, as evidenced by his series averages of 23 points and 17.5 rebounds.
Andrea Bargnani was chosen No. 1 overall in 2006, but expectations for the 22-year-old Italian have so diminished that you can make the case he's played well in the series - mostly based on his surprisingly willing and aggressive defence on Howard - despite averaging seven points and 1.5 rebounds while shooting 31 per cent from the floor in four starts.
It's no one's fault Bargnani isn't Howard, but the case that Bargnani will be the best player in his draft year - or even close - is getting weaker all the time.
But Bargnani's just the start of it.
In the fourth quarter of a critical game, with 20,416 Raptors fans in full throat at the ACC, the Magic's trio of perimeter players - forwards Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis and point guard Jameer Nelson - combined to score 32 of the Magic's 33 points on nine-of-12 shooting while making five of six three-pointers and getting to the foul line 15 times.
After Bosh's nine fourth-quarter points, the entire Raptors lineup was 5-of-14 while connecting on 1-of-7 three-point attempts, muscling their way to the line all of once.
Bosh's work in the series is proof that he's made the adjustment to postseason play required after his halting effort in his debut against New Jersey last year.
But the drop to their next best player is so precipitous, you need a parachute.
As is their duty, the Raptors will step on the floor tonight believing they can win and start a roll that will shock the NBA, proving all their critics wrong. They're paid to think like that.
But the truth is, the Magic have superior talent and are prepared to use it, and the Raptors have a better chance of climbing Magic Mountain than a steep hill made of those hard facts.
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