LeBron James used to dominate the Toronto Raptors so thoroughly (and in such a showboating fashion) that a name was born: LeBronto.
The 37-year-old in his 19th NBA season was almost single-handedly responsible for eliminating the Raptors in three straight postseasons as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers between 2016 and 2018. But as James flipped the switch on his career and left the Eastern Conference for the sunny shores of Los Angeles, California in 2018, the Raptors entered a new era themselves, winning the championship in 2019 and watching a skinny kid from Douala, Cameroon turn into one of the best players in the NBA, with Pascal Siakam being named the NBA’s Most Improved Player in 2018-19 and a Second-Team All-NBA forward in 2019-20.
With LeBron and the Raptors going their separate ways, it was only a matter of time before we would see who got the next (and possibly final) laugh. Would James continue his dino-dominance from afar? Or would Siakam and the Raptors finally figure out how to stop the West Coast-based King?
With Toronto’s 114-103 slapping of the Lakers in Los Angeles on Monday night—a game that was all but over within the first few minutes—the Raptors have now won six straight games against James, tied for the longest losing streak of his career against any franchise. Siakam led the Raptors with 27 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, scoring more than 20 points for a personal-best seventh-straight game. He is now 10-1 against the Lakers in his career and an undefeated 6-0 in head-to-head matchups against the King since James moved to L.A.
Welcome to Pascalifornia.
While a parody account was responsible for a fake quote from OG Anunoby about “Pascalifornia,” the name took off nonetheless, trending on Canadian Twitter during Monday night’s game. Raptors fans were having fun as they watched Siakam thoroughly dominate the game and rookie Scottie Barnes show off in his first game against James and the Lakers, scoring 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists himself.
To make the win even sweeter, it came at the cost of James’ anger, with the Akron native getting so upset and frustrated with his team throughout the game that he whipped the ball at a helpless Barnes at one point and pounded it in frustration at another.
It probably didn’t help that the Raptors fans took over Crypto.com arena in the fourth quarter, chanting “let’s go Raptors!” so loud that it could be heard on the broadcast.
James and the Lakers will get their opportunity at revenge when the Raptors host the Lakers at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Friday night for what is sure to be a heated contest. Until then, however, it’s Pascalifornia.
