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After two vicious beatings in Cleveland, Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey was left pawing around on the ground Thursday for some sign of hope. After much searching, he settled on an unlikely source.

"I have all the trust and confidence in the world in Cory [Joseph]. Of all the people on the team, he's won a championship. He knows how hard it is," Casey said.

Joseph did earn a ring with the San Antonio Spurs, but whatever he knows about the difficulty of winning titles was largely gleaned from his perspective as a spectator. Joseph averaged five minutes and three points a game in that 2013-14 postseason. With all due respect, he's not saviour material.

The impetus for Casey's outburst of irrational Cory Joseph-based exuberance was the likelihood that Kyle Lowry will not play in Friday's Game 3.

Lowry was injured in the most Raptors way possible on Wednesday night, crushed under the body of a teammate who'd been thrown on top of him. Nursing a twisted ankle, Lowry left the court in pain, returned briefly to the game, and then left again.

He was taken for an MRI on Thursday in Toronto. He's being called "questionable" for Friday. The way the Raptors talked about Lowry's condition – grim, verging on eulogistic – left little doubt about the likely answer to that question.

So while the funeral notice for the season has not yet been printed, it's probably a good idea to start digging the grave.

The optimists in the crowd – presumably the sort of people who say to themselves, "I have a good feeling about this one," every time they play the lottery – will point out that the Raptors were blown out in the first two games against Cleveland a year ago and then briefly regained their balance at home. But this one feels different.

Asked if it felt that way to him, Joseph stuttered, "Uh. I don't really know how to answer that one. Uh, no? Yes?"

There's the confidence the Raptors are looking for in their fill-in court general.

The difference is mainly down to LeBron James, who appears to have decided he really cares about tying this one off quickly, as opposed to his usual, early-postseason kind-of, sort-of caring.

James hasn't just beaten the Raptors to this point. He's openly mocked them. In Game 1, he paused mid-game to take an imaginary refresher from a courtside patron's beer. In Game 2, he stood lackadaisically at the three-point line with a man in his face, spun the ball in his hands like a kid taking free throws in his driveway and then planted a jumper over the outstretched arm of Serge Ibaka.

"Twice," Casey said when asked about it. Meaning how many times James had swirled the ball before deciding to shoot. He didn't say it amusedly.

If Lowry is out, the entire burden falls onto DeMar DeRozan, who scored only one point in the first three quarters on Wednesday. Thus far, both encounters have functionally ended after 36 minutes.

Some players feel the weight of history. By the looks of him, DeRozan is being trash-compacted by it. By Sunday, he will be six inches tall and ready for curbside pickup.

To his credit, DeRozan made very little effort to seem upbeat. Joseph unleashed all the clichés of the athlete in freefall – "come out with a lot more energy," "I'm always confident." God help him, he actually said the words "110 per cent."

DeRozan didn't try any of that. He came out forlorn, speaking in a whisper. Whereas Casey used a delightful Caseyism to deny he's absorbing the negatives – "I don't see the noise" – DeRozan admitted it's getting to him.

"You can't turn on the TV or look at anything socially without seeing all the criticism, questioning this or whatever somebody may think," DeRozan said. "At the end of the day, we're all human. Everybody sees things or may get text messages … "

Text messages? Working on the assumption that the only people who have your phone number are your friends, DeRozan may be in need of a more robust support system.

Others tried to elide the real problem – James – and focus instead on doing the "little things."

The little things are missing your spots a few times, or forgetting to make the extra pass that finds an open shooter. They are not being dismantled so effectively in consecutive outings that the other team feels free to Harlem Globetrotters its way through long stretches of play. Those are big things.

DeRozan was the only one who would give the king his tribute while contrasting what James has looked like from last year to this one.

"He's a lot more aggressive. You just see a different fire, hunger in him, this time around."

It sounded a lot like a surrender with terms – just give us one or two.

Another word that got tossed around on Thursday was "redemption." Not in the sense of coming back to win the series – that ship has sailed so far it's already docked on the other side of the metaphoric ocean. No James-led team has ever lost a series after going up 2-0; no Raptor squad has ever won one after losing the first two games. Nothing about what we've seen yet suggests the slightest chance of reversing those complementary trends.

But redemption in the sense of managing to escape this encounter with some dignity intact.

Rather than a win, self-respect would be a more plausible goal at the outset on Friday – one good quarter when it actually means something, a few defensive stops strung together, finding one shooter who doesn't look like he's trying to throw an anvil into a Dixie cup.

It isn't likely to lead anywhere truly meaningful, but at this point the Raptors are beyond that sort of aspiration. They're now in the most dispiriting sort of fight – trying to win a battle, while knowing you've lost the war.

Toronto Raptors star Kyle Lowry missed practice Thursday with a sprained ankle after Wednesday’s blowout loss to the Cavaliers in Cleveland. Down two games ahead of Game 3, guard DeMar DeRozan says the Raptors have been here before.

The Canadian Press

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