Bismack Biyombo didn’t carry the burdens which have weighed down so many of the participants in the Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Toronto Raptors and the Miami Heat.
DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry, Goran Dragic, and Joe Johnson were all expected to be far better than they’ve been in this series — if not by fans, then certainly by the organizations which have entrusted so many dollars and minutes to them. The Raptors, as a result of being unfamiliar with this stage and its attendant pressures, have wobbled under the weight of the moment. The Heat, as a result of lacking Chris Bosh, entered this series with a significantly reduced margin for error.
Subsequent injuries on both sides of the aisle — Jonas Valanciunas for Toronto, and Hassan Whiteside for Miami; DeMarre Carroll’s left wrist in Wednesday night’s Game 5, and Luol Deng’s left wrist in Game 5 as well — have turned this series into a living Book of Exodus: Plagues are ravaging both teams. Games own playoff intensity but regular season lineups. The passion of the postseason colors this series, but so does abysmal quality.
In Game 5, it is true that — as was the case in Game 3 — Kyle Lowry hit the game’s biggest shot late in the proceedings. His long triple against good defense enabled the Raptors to avoid the humiliation of squandering a 20-point lead on their home floor:
Big time shot by @klow7! #NBAPlayoffs https://t.co/anF7hTwXW7
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 12, 2016
To that extent, Lowry became the man of the hour in this series, which might end Friday in Miami if the veteran from Villanova can play a complete Game 6.
However, Lowry didn’t play Game 5 at a consistently great height. He has ducked in and out of this series, as has been the case for almost all of the marquee players saddled with considerable expectations. Sometimes, those expectations become a blessing, because they push formidable players to channel their thirst for greatness into a finer, more fire-tested focus. In this series, however, expectations have largely become a curse. Players unaccustomed to performing for a spot in the NBA’s conference final round have not found a consistent way to subdue their anxieties.
Precisely because so many players were expected to be so much better in this series, the larger theater of Heat-Raptors has been hard to watch. The accumulation of injuries has undeniably eroded an already-sorry spectacle, but even with the diminished lineups Erik Spoelstra and Dwane Casey have had to put on the floor, the star players left in this series — with the exception of Dwyane Wade — have struggled to take hold of the competition.
The combination of poor play and mounting injuries in this Book of Exodus series created a vacuum, an absence of familiar and predictable situations. Game 5 begged for a player not burdened by expectations to step into the vacuum and claim a rare night in the spotlight.
Bismack Biyombo raised his hand… and his game:
.@BismackBiyombo0 has his fingerprints all over the first half. #NBAPlayoffs https://t.co/wVrrSNwk8G
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 12, 2016
Toronto leads this series (3-2) because after five games, someone has to be in the lead. Yes, it’s been that kind of journey in this injury-plagued East semifinal. The battle, ever since it began, has devolved into a competition not to see which team could become better, but which team could avoid becoming worse. Toronto is that team, one game away from the East Finals in spite of its warts and wobbles.
One wobble from the Raptors in this series has not come from any player, however; Casey inexplicably benched Biyombo in key fourth-quarter stretches and overtime of Game 4 on Monday night in Miami, with Valanciunas out. Spoelstra didn’t call timeouts on end-stage possessions so that Casey couldn’t sub in Biyombo on defense. That’s an unforced error in coaching terms, and it’s the kind of mistake which can rub a player the wrong way.
What’s so great about Biyombo’s effort in Game 5 is not just that its magnitude was unexpected, and therefore uniquely welcome within the context of the series; it’s that it represented such a marvelous response to a difficult event. A 23-year-old player who is not supposed to become a “takeover-level” player rose above the overall misery of this series and gave himself a moment he’ll cherish when his playing days are done… and more urgently, a moment which will bolster his confidence and possibly accelerate his development as a still-young player in the league.
Heat-Raptors has been a disappointment. Wednesday in Game 5, Bismack Biyombo became the antithesis of disappointing. An eyesore of a series can still provide beauty, and in Toronto, Biyombo gave local basketball fans a bounty of brilliance.
It just might be the contribution which lifts the Raptors to a place they’ve never been: the Eastern Conference Finals.
