To preface this piece, I’ve been an NBA “fan” since 2011.

With the NBA lockout in the rear-view mirror in the 2011 playoffs and the NHL lockout of 2012 looming ahead of me, my former hockey viewership was swapped for the drama and excitement of the NBA (plus, my parents just installed my first basketball net in the driveway). All I knew at the time was that Bosh left “my” Toronto Raptors, to team up with Dwyane Wade and LeBron in Miami.

Since then, I’ve gotten more and more involved in NBA fandom each season, to the point where it's now my most devoted outlet.

Why am I mentioning this?

Because in my lifespan as an NBA fan, I am yet to witness an NBA Finals without LeBron. I watched him crumble against the Mavs, take his revenge out on the Thunder and Spurs, lose to the Spurs, then charge back to Cleveland over the summer of 2014 and go 1-2 in three tries against the Warriors.

There have been close calls, but LeBron has always found a way to will his team into the NBA Finals.

I write this piece in the few hours leading up to Game 2 (Thursday Night, 6:30 PM EST), and I feel a sense of reiterated dread coming from Raptors’ fans.

The fact is clear; we should’ve won Game One and we didn’t. We had so many chances to finish them off and put our foot on the pedal but we constantly eased up, propping the door open for LeBron, JR, Korver, Tristan, and company to barge it open and take the victory in overtime.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the Cavs didn’t deserve this victory.

There’s a lot of banter about how if Kevin Love’s elbow to DeMar was ruled a flagrant 1 (as it was reviewed and upgraded from a common foul after the game), then that extra free throw would’ve been the momentum we needed to win that game.

Honestly, at that moment one point would've made a huge difference, but I can't go hanging my hat on that fantasy.

We’ve been a team that has been excellent at closing games all year, and we just flat out dropped the ball on Tuesday night.

But can we expect B+ to A games from LeBron’s roleplayers going forward? I mean, LeBron had a “subpar” game at 26/11/13 on 40/12/16 percentages and they still won.

How Different is This LeBron Team?

This has most definitely been LeBron’s weakest surrounding cast over his scorching seven years of finals runs. This is undoubtedly true if Kevin Love continues with these crucially disappointing performances.

But since Kyrie jumped ship to the Celtics, and Isaiah Thomas's corpse was then booted to Los Angeles, there’s one glaring difference with this LeBron team that’s undeniably different from his others:

They don’t have a great shot-creating guard.

In Miami it was Wade. In fact, there were times when Wade was the better scorer between him and LBR for a handful of their series’ in Miami.

Over the three previous years in Cleveland, Kyrie has been the surefire bucket-getter from the guard spot. He hit so many massive shots for that Cleveland team over his tenure and there are so many games they probably would’ve lost if it wasn’t for his bewildering shot-creating/making for crucial stretches and bursts.

But what about this team?

George Hill? JR Smith? Rodney Hood? Jordan Clarkson?

Nope.

They aren't bad shooters, but they aren’t the kind of guys you throw the ball to in a playoff game and say, “Go get us a basket, we need one”. LeBron had that in (Miami) Wade and Kyrie.

LeBron has proven over and over again that his shoulders don’t have a workload too massive to carry, but unless one of those ball-handlers above turns into Kyrie 2.0, LeBron may (finally) not be able to do this all himself.

The Raptors Plan to Stopping the King

If there was a plan that worked when it came to stopping LeBron, he wouldn’t have made seven straight Finals.

Imagine prime Barry Bonds, but with a hitch: if you walk him he gets replaced by a pinch-runner and goes back to the plate until he put one in play.

That's kind of what it feels like to play against LeBron.

The Raptors have made it clear that OG will be LeBron’s primary defender.  A hefty task for a 20-year-old rookie who is truly blossoming into the second coming of Kawhi Leonard right before our eyes.

His long arms, active motor, high-IQ and quick-feet make for a perfect LeBron defender if there’s ever been one. Nobody in the world is stopping him, but OG at least gives us a LeBron buffer.

Pascal serves as the backup LeBron defender. He gives up some ground on the quick-feet spectrum but makes up for it with a little more size and length. Expect to perhaps see some CJ Miles action on LeBron in Games 2 and beyond. I've always found him to be an underrated defender.

Toronto’s pick-and-roll defense against LeBron was alright but would’ve been great if the Cavs’ role-players didn’t shoot the heck out of the ball.

As the game pedaled along, the Raptors pick-and-roll defense on LeBron evolved from an aggressive hedge to a full-on double-team. LeBron will always make the right pass out of a double team, but that’s okay. By making that right pass, it’s now up to the receiver (Love, Thompson, Green, etc.) to make the next right pass to find the open shot.

It’s much more complex than just, “making the other guys beat you”, but that’s the thesis to the blueprint of beating LeBron. If you double him off of a pick-and-roll the next 2-3 passes (if made correctly) will always lead to an open shot. You can usually count on LeBron to make that first hockey assist pass, but putting the play-making onus on the other guys is exactly what we want.

So as I freely write this in the looming hours before Game Two, I have slowly become a nervous wreck. I’ve never felt so attached to a team in my many years of following sports, and I really, really don’t want this season to end. But sadly, it'll be heroicly difficult to bounce back after losing your first two at home.

LeBron is a conundrum that has baffled and amazed the league over his remarkably insane career. In year 15, he hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down whatsoever. The blueprint remains the same;

• Throw tough, high-motor, long defenders at him.
• Double/Hedge-Hard off of pick-and-rolls.
• Make his teammates beat you.

But without a (Miami) Wade or a Kyrie on this roster, there may not be enough shotmaking from the guard spot to help give this Cavs team enough firepower to take down a much deeper, better Toronto team.

But we’ll see. I’ve doubted LeBron’s ability to carry his team before, and I’ve definitely felt foolish for doing so.

Here’s to praying that history won’t repeat itself.