Let’s go back to Paul Pierce for a second, because it matters. Remember what he said, before his Washington Wizards played the 49-win Toronto Raptors, who had swept Washington in the regular season?
“We haven’t done particularly well against Toronto, but I don’t feel they have the ‘It’ that makes you worried. There isn’t a team I look at in the Eastern Conference that makes me say, ‘They are intimidating, we don’t have a chance.’ ”
This being Toronto, people lost their minds. Even general manager Masai Ujiri took to Maple Leaf Square and, caught up in the emotion of the place, bellowed, “we don’t give a sh-- about it!