“I wish we’d had K-Lo,” said one member of the organization, leaning against the wall, when it was all over. The last game of this Toronto Raptors season was a sort of Irish wake, as these games go: raucous, jovial, a reminder of what it used to be like, before the end. The Cleveland Cavaliers never sweated, but at least it looked close; they won 109-102, and swept Toronto out of the second round. LeBron James rules the world. The end was predictable, but at least it was fun.

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“If we had LeBron on our team, too, we woulda won,” said DeMar DeRozan, who played a smart, unselfish 46 minutes. “We can say that all day . . . we didn’t. It happened. We got swept. It’s gonna be one of them long summers for us.”

Big summer, too. They ended the season without all-star point guard Kyle Lowry, who sat on the bench with his sprained ankle. He missed the two games here, which were the two games in which Toronto had its only real chance to turn the series, the way they did last year. Maybe with him, it could have been different.

Without him, it was all just a mirage: Toronto jumping up 11, falling behind by 16, storming back to take a lead, and then watching Kyrie Irving score 11 straight points to seal it. For the series, LeBron James averaged 36.0 points on unbelievable .573/.481/.833 shooting from the field, three-point range and the free-throw line; he added 9.7 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 1.5 steals, 1.5 blocks. Nobody had ever scored at least 35 in every game of a four-game sweep before. LeBron said afterward, “We have another level.” He was probably right. He also noted it was his ninth conference final in 14 years, and it’s his seventh in a row, too. Some things don’t break.

So the Raptors were scattered with questions to answer, but none bigger than Lowry. He is a free agent, and eligible for a five-year contract extension at nearly $200 million (U.S.). He is 31 and reported for camp this year heavier than he did the year before. He was ranked ninth in net offensive/defensive rating this season among starters who played at least 50 games and starter’s minutes, at +8.2, behind four Warriors, three Clippers, and Kawhi Leonard. He has never produced consistently in the playoffs, and was trapped into statistical mediocrity in this post-season.

As one league source put it, “The problem with Kyle is he’s short, fat and slow.” As another said, “He’s a hell of a player.” He has clashed with coach Dwane Casey. He has intentionally extended his career by shooting more threes, which the Raptors want to do. He’s heading for the downslope. Lowry is the beating, inspiring, confounding, imperfect heart of this team.

So it’s not automatic, but it’s the same as it’s ever been: As Kyle goes, so go the Raptors. If he is re-signed — and the early sense is that remains the most likely option, though nowhere near a fait accompli — then you are trying to stay good, and accepting the risks that come with that. The organization believes it was the second-best team in the East, but Lowry’s wrist surgery and Lowry’s sprained ankle, though — they made everything difficult.

But if he’s back that may mean re-signing Serge Ibaka, too, though he showed heavy flaws: didn’t rebound, shot some awful two-pointers, doesn’t move as well as he used to. P.J. Tucker would probably stay in this scenario as well. He becomes the new Patrick Patterson, since the old one ended this series looking like a ghost, afraid to shoot. Patterson ended his reign as Toronto’s secret plus-minus king, at a plus-one for Game 4. But he vanished.

And if in the coming days and weeks Masai Ujiri decides that he can’t commit too much to Lowry — an early offer of four years and, say, $150 million to $160 million, a little more per year than DeRozan, might be the sensible play — or if Bryan Colangelo and Philadelphia steal him away, then the whole thing blows up. If Lowry doesn’t come back, then anything can go: coach Dwane Casey, DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas, everything that defined the most successful era in Raptors history. For what that’s worth.

The Toronto Raptors? season is over after a four-game sweep by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Coach Dwane Casey says he ?didn?t do a good enough job? getting the team ready to compete at the highest level.

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And that’s the question. What’s it worth? LeBron James is at the height of his powers, and he had another level of desperation and effort he saved, believe it. If you want a championship Golden State sits behind him with four of the best players in basketball. This era, title-wise, is largely spoken for.

But what Toronto has isn’t nothing. Lowry is flawed, but he can be great, too. The nights when the Raptors make this arena one of the best places in the NBA: it’s something. If Lowry comes back, and brings everything else with him, the Raptors will still need to find a better way to play in the pass-and-three NBA; that still might mean a new coach and new personnel, but at least it means a new approach around the same old heart. It will probably come with an eventual reckoning, too. Point guards don’t usually age well.

But he’s the best thing they have, and it would be hard to let it end. It’s not easy. As Kyle Lowry goes so go the Raptors, in every way.

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