Jose Calderon turns the corner, beats his man easily, gets to the rim and finishes a game-tying layup with less than seven seconds left in a thriller and the Raptors are thinking "what if?"
What if he'd been healthy enough to do that all season? What if a sore hamstring hadn't limited him so much it all but ruined his, and his team's, season? What if he'd been like that, would the year have been so disastrous? Then you see Pops Mensah-Bonsu beat two defenders to a vital missed free throw, get his hands on it and give his team a chance to tie or win and then watch him make a wild pass that gets picked off and the Raptors are thinking "what if?"
What if they'd had that energy from more players? What if Mensah-Bonsu has passed the ball back instead of wildly throwing it forward in the deciding seconds of a delightful game? What if he'd made two great plays instead of one?
But pro sports isn't about "ifs" or "buts" or "maybes" because wins and losses are the only reality that matters and all the Raptors have to show from last night was a great game from Calderon, some hustle from Mensah-Bonsu and a 99-95 overtime loss to the Detroit Pistons that was Toronto's seventh in a row.
"The 'if' is not working in this sport," said Calderon, who had 20 points and 11 assists and looked as healthy and quick as he's been all season. "It's not just one thing, it was too many little things, like (last night).
"We're so close. We are a good team, we fight. But when you are in this situation, it happens. Maybe when you win one, you go on a roll, but to change the dynamic is the difficult thing."
Difficult, verging on impossible for the Raptors, who probably deserved better last night.
Down 11 entering the fourth quarter, they sent the game to overtime when Calderon exploded down the lane for a game-tying basket with less than 10 seconds left.
Down seven with two minutes left in overtime they should have been dead and buried but somehow kept going and were down three when Chris Bosh stepped to the free-throw line with 15 seconds left. Bosh made the first and missed the second, with his line drive rattling off the back of the rim. Mensah-Bonsu, seemingly out of nowhere, snuck behind two Pistons to grab the rebound and it looked like Toronto would have one last chance.
But Mensah-Bonsu started to fall and instead of getting the ball to a teammate, flung a wild pass in the direction of the basket that was batted by a couple of Pistons.
"I kind of lost my balance at the last second there," said Mensah-Bonsu, who did have 10 points and 10 rebounds. "I was kind of stuck between throwing it up at the basket or passing it. I saw Shawn Marion and tried to pass it and it got blocked."
And another loss was achieved.
"This one hurts, man," said Mensah-Bonsu. "We finally showed signs of life and a sense of urgency. We looked like a desperate team out there and played like one, made some of the right plays at the right time to put us in a position to win the game.
"There's not much I can say."
