The Time LeBron James Turned Toronto Into ‘LeBronto’ – Told by NBA Players & Legends

what can you contribute to you guys just not quite being able to get over the hump LeBron James you got to go back to my first two years which was like 57 wins or 59 wins both years one second year was coach of the year so we had we thought we had a championship teams two years in a row we got swept by LeBron we just didn't have an answer I'm excited to play against uh Lebron cuz he's been the best player in the league for some time now so I always like challenges I said it plenty of times but yeah that mother was impossible to beat that's just what it was like you know what I mean like it just it just it was it was no other way around it with braon like coming up and watching it like he was always like Step Ahead ahead he was always looking to be MH like even in the game if he already thought he was and we and we did something he wasn't ready he was like okay all right I got it um I mean obviously LeBron is is is a is a force but I truly believe that this team that team played with heart LeBron will beat like the Raptors back in the day and you'll you'll Google the city of Toronto and the mayor would be LeBron James for like 10 minutes you're like the hell got time to do all this right it's great LeBron the mayor yeah it's wild [Music] James FES and finishes Cleveland Cavaliers win the Eastern Conference Final in six games what is Cleveland and LeBron Leon James represented to this team definitely an obstacle you know especially last few years um making it to the Eastern Conference Final going six games so last year getting swept James putting a muscle in his hustle and won they will put the Raptors to rest for nothing sweet you know it was our opportunity that of us climbing in the mountain knocked us down you know and we have to rebuild and understand if we get back there how do we get past that so definitely an obstacle he's a guy who will be a Hall of Famer top three NBA off all time players um it makes you want to figure out how to beat them because you want to be able to say look I knocked them off his throne and you don't knock him off his throne and saying he's the basketall but you can say look we a team that beat him you don't think y could have had one more piece and could have got it done bro you could do I'm be honest I'm be honest like no yeah going through those battles like it was always like good series but like Braun like had our number like every single year my rookie year was like the best series that we had against him we took him to game six and we had bismack Garden Brun KY Kyle lry and I were joking a lot you said what are you afraid of I said I'm never afraid of human being I'm afraid of lions and then he laugh I said no I'm serious or why would I be afraid of a human being I'm I'm going to be afraid of a lion and then they asked me if was afraid of LeBron I said I'm I'm not I'm not afraid of LeBron or any human being I'm afraid of a lion I respect the competition uh but I'm just afraid of a lion but uh like after that like it was it was night night man like it was like no matter what we did like he had a counter to that like yeah he controlled everything from top to bottom come on man like it was when you stepped on that floor it was like it was it was tough bro we've seen it the last two years and it's been all Cleveland winning eight out of 10 seven of those by double digits and the last three in Toronto have belonged to the Cavs by an average of 18 points but in 2018 it's the Raptors who have the best record in the East it's the Raptors who have the home court advantage it's the Raptors who have a bench to complement the D rozen and Lowry back court but it's the Cavs who have LeBron and they hit Air Canada Center two days removed moved from winning game seven over the Pacers game one is really important because one thing they do have on the Rapters is history they are in their heads Toronto has that game one losing streak I know they snapped that the last round but especially with Cleveland being the team that they have to get past like this game one is really important they got away with the last series you know because he's so great I don't think he can play that great again this series and beat this team unless somebody on the Cleveland Cavaliers shows up with him but we also know LeBron James when is this the year the Toronto breaks through against the Cleveland Cavaliers we the north we the north uh this is the Year this is a different Raptors team they're going to win this series they got the best bench in the NBA well that's going to come into play they going to have three or four bodies that they can throw at LeBron he won't be able to win four out of seven playing the way they play when they give him the ball every single time and go one on five that will not work against this Raptor's team points in 20 minutes to 196 Toronto James lines up a three count it this is a different rap team they're going to win this series I'm excited to play against LeBron we did north6 Toronto James lines up a three k it love squeezes it CH clock winding down love knocked Away by D rozan D rozan on the Move Smith there defensively d rozan swive by James LeBron James Creak and roll small small we're going to do it with cor James drives in and scores going to the hole 105 [Music] [Applause] [Music] 103 James with 10 to shoot the fade away for the tie yes LeBron James knocks it down 105 105 equalizer we're going to overtime James goes behind the back cor one Tribble a three count it corver bounces for James extra feed Smith lets it Fly it's a three under a minute left Lowry drives in oh goes down Kyle Lowry D roza ball fake kick out van Fleet 3 seconds Fleet no good Cleveland's got the rebound and it's over and Cleveland claims game one on the road in overtime 113 to 112 LeBron you guys played four quarters of basketball without ever leading and you still won this basketball game what made the fourth quarter different how'd you keep your composure that's what we've been doing ever since game three and the Indiana series is keeping our composure no matter what's been going on guys stepped up tonight everybody stepped up we got defensive stops that killed us on the glass but we just stayed with it and we made timely shots got timely stops it's a huge win for [Music] us hey hey to the locker room don't say nothing don't say nothing was it too soon to call this one of the most pivotal games in Raptor's history they are inarguably the most successful group this franchise has ever had yet each time they've gotten even close to the promised land they've been shut down often specifically by LeBron James there's really no other way to describe game one when Toronto missed 12 straight shots down the stretch to let the Cavaliers steal a win in overtime and if the Raptor somehow game two I mean down 02 heading back to Cleveland we all know how that ends but if the cabs can get up two games tonight turn this into a quick series maybe even get a little rest before the Conference Finals well all of a sudden the hope of getting back to playing for a trophy in June looks a lot more promising so yeah this game matters everyone has something to play for we'll just have to see who plays bigger when the moment arrives he wanted a Grace for reason you know what I mean and welcome everyone to NBA Conference semi-finals it's the Toronto Raptors trying to draw even but for them it's Championship or [Applause] bust nice pass by LeBron James to a cutting Kyle corver LeBron James up court for the Cavaliers working against anovi put up the left hand layup eight-point lead for the Cavaliers LeBron with four points boy looked like he got hit by purle but went right through himc backed it up by shooting 50% LeBron James takes out is do it yourself hit [Music] deis back to James right down Main Street now what do you does not want to do is pick up a foul outside here B spins and goes off glast 6 seconds to go LeBron with the pullup got it from the top of the key James with [Music] 16 watch LeBron shoot that right over that is huge chains on the drive and one over CJ Miles Bo as soon as he saw the switch he's going strong right to the basket Cavaliers spin bucket LeBron [Music] James fade [Music] away and then also screening doing good screens and then the one-on-one play right here oneon-one and that three is good he is feeling it right now it's like when even when we the one seed man like braon started hit like seven eight turnarounds in a row man like nothing but net like nothing no matter who we put on put OG on them put dear on them like it didn't matter who we had Kyle guarding them for like didn't matter dude was hitting nothing but that turnarounds like oh the that thing was in the a so long it should have had a movie on it we'll be back to lebronto for the fourth quarter after this now backing down Lowry P cheek still sizzling him up and you're not going to double team him come on he's going to have his way here LeBron Fades away over seak he's hotter than Fish Grease it almost looked like LeBron's just all right I'll get to the Raptors and I'll win no problem right right right when Braun's out there doing what he did do you feel defenseless cuz watching it it looks defenseless like them boys can't do nothing yeah and sometimes yes like he he had a second or third quarter against us one of them playoff series where he just decided he was going to just shoot turnaround jumpers the whole quarter and there's just nothing you can do off glass all net like you knew what move he was going to do and he still did it and there's nothing you can do with great defense you know like it was like moments like that where it was like all right man like chalk it up man like great great fight great series great game man like like hat to the do yeah LeBron backing down D roosan there's that fade away and it's butter four on the shot clock for LeBron James [Music] oh on we're speechless yie Brown no watch the shake now watch the fake see I come right back and then I throw the fade away look where he is the distance on the fade away LeBron is is is a is a force but I truly believe that that team played with heart it's one of the greatest performances of his career as far as I'm concerned uh the contested shots that he made Falling Away over his left shoulder over his right shoulder it didn't matter one [Music] day he was just in the zone he was on it and um he demoralized the Toronto Raptors like he usually does it doesn't take away from The Sensational performance uh that he put forth it was definitely epic something that will be remembered for quite a long time as far as I concerned and I tweeted about this he didn't just silence the crowd he didn't just silence the Raptors he silenced the country one of the most efficient performances in playoff history I'm skip bis that was LeBron James that was pretty impressive if if he gets you down he will bury you if he starts feeling it in and starts smelling your blood he will bury you and he buried them tonight in every way possible with 43 and 14 assists greatest driver most Unstoppable driver of the ball because he's ambidextrous he's got both hands and he can lay it off the glass either direction and he is still very explosive after 15 seasons in this league the series is over it's done period why because the Toronto Raptors ran into their Kryptonite which is LeBron [Music] James I'm still riding with Toronto down 02 now going on the road welcome everyone to NBA Conference semifinals on ABC presented by Modell you hear some of the story like with Demar and c and and Fred talking about like we coming down the court and he yelling the plays out like watch the I mean from start to finish like you know you go to the cuts and this like he calling the plays out like the ball's going to end up in jv's hand on the backside of this that and the other and you sitting down like Al junis trying to chase love outside and James inside James the first time now A Thompson screen good hesitation by LeBron ball fake pump fake it LeBron James I remember it was um it was a play we was trying to run and one of our teammates forgot the play yeah I'm not going to say what teammate you know what I'm saying but like he told the teammate what to do cuz the teammate turned around to the bench like what's the play and Braun told him the play n no you go over here and I'm like man this dude this dude's mind like is at a totally different level like it was some crazy it was some like it was some crazy stuff we call him to play he was like what and Bri told him what our play was they come out of a timeout and Kyle lry throws his hands up whatever and the guy goes dang I didn't see the call Bron goes you're supposed to be in the corner uh and then you're going to cut across he's going to sit a down screen you're going to come over we're going to switch that and Kyle's going to have to play me 101 C plays well and the dude goes stop it I said this is every day the team shooting 38% now look out got a clear out here games inside gets it the ball rookie one dble pull up LeBron butter LeBron step back three got it cuz like he knows our stuff he knows their stuff and he telling the audibles you know for their team to adjust to our defensive schemes you know what I mean bring over like dude you're right yeah like it was crazy like it was just like that you know and it just shows you like how locked in this dude be when it comes to that come to winning time man and and you see it when he out there on both F man LeBron James this guy was looking in your mouth like right there and just calling you was telling the players exactly what was going to happen on the play that you call you know as an opposing coach that that one guy can can screw things up for you he'll like he'll just blow up the whole play like no it's going over there it's going over there yeah and you be like wait so LeBron be knowing the all the plays no he he knows the plays bro he knows his plays down to a T and he knows your plays down to a t definitely know to a t because he also know people Tendencies too you know what you know very well like once you understand in no guys Tes it's easier to cut off certain options and and and box uh uh offense in you know what I mean and and that's that's what he was great at you talk about somebody to know the Playbook know where everybody supposed to be know the other teams coaches Playbook the style of coaching how his ball club's going to play like Braun's one of them like Trump talking about he calling out during the game like he going to do this he going to do that mhm I'm going to do this and whatever I do he know whatever I do is going to trigger everything yeah I think the play that that sticks out to me is game three my last year in um Toronto where you were full court go the length of the floor here they're looking for LeBron they get it to him in the corner 6 seconds to go here comes LeBron we're tied at 103 LeBron into the four Court in on an get shove toward the side throws up the floer Cleveland that is for you oh he did it again LeBron James kicked it high off the window and dropped it through R take us through that last shot we had no more time out I had to get open took a full court I was able to hit a float off the glass and it's my job in the fourth to Clos it that was it that was like the end of my time in Toronto like that was it you know I mean we was down 3 0 I just remember him shooting at one leg floater and it going in I was just like this is this is it here you know what I mean like it was it was it that one that that one hurt me for sure that one [Music] you know we wanted the fo to be spaced we wanted him to come downhill full speed because we know when he's coming full speed no one can stop him you know so I thought taking it full court we can space the floor out and we wanted CJ Miles man just to come up at half court and just just stay and that Braun come off and the whole floor be open that's what we was trying to create and um you know he made a tough shot you know to win the game listen man I've never won a playoff game against him we know I've been in four series with this man I got swept four times it's crazy I got a couple wins that's it Bri definitely gave us a couple of those performances where it was just like I mean what you going to do yeah especially me like I mean what the hell what am I going to do it ain't nothing I can do you know what I'm saying spit trible change got it at his fifth career playoff buzer beater on Saturday night as he backs in OG James jum it's time he done told us on the bench Kevin it's going to be there and all I'm thinking is dude going to steal this P brondon took that mug and threw this behind his back Kevin L slid behind the little screen and shot this I'm like this boy done threw this ball he done caught this ball ain't dribble it and pmed it and threw it like a bowling ball behind his back all the way across the court perfectly in the Kevin little hand for and I'm you know what I'm saying like I'm on the court I'm just like even I'm sitting there B 24 minutes to go to keep their season alive James takes OG in the [Applause] post James oh di do LeBron especially if he ends up in the NBA SP what a move the way Messiah jury went into this he gave Lowry a three-year deal how about that how about that [Applause] [Music] shot oh impossible angle LeBron James can do no wrong [Applause] [Music] this is what happened to the Raptors LeBron James happened to the Raptors he is so much better than everyone else are you ready to admit this Raptor's C Series it's all over no I'm not I am not I'm riding with the Raptors now they go down 03 yeah that's what I thought but until they do that and I believe they can win in Cleveland the Toronto Raptors have fired head coach Dwayne Casey just a couple of days ago he was actually named coach of the year my instant reaction is that it's BS I don't think he deserved it because he lost to the best player in the world now it doesn't help that he got swept the reality is there's there was no scheme there was nothing that could be done to beat LeBron James nothing but he's lost to the same guy the last three years and I'm sorry they just happened to run up against the immovable object of this generation I don't care what coach you bring in there at the end of the day that's not worth firing your coach for and therefore disrupting the consistency of your organization whenever they're going against LeBron and LeBron only they fold like cheap tents and I don't think that's on Casey because if this is a knee-jerk reaction to you losen to LeBron that's stupid [Music]