Those focused on the ‘taunting’ of KG do not understand yet what the NBA game is all about …

i.e. a League which is driven by the individual talent of the players on a team’s roster, how that talent is acquired, how it fits together, and then how it’s used on and off the court.

The Raptors earned their 16-pt lead due to how they played, both individually and together, on the court versus the Celtics; and, then, lost the lead based on the same factors.

Taunting, or not, had nothing to do with it … as neither team backed down from the other, i.e. physically, emotionally or any other way you can imagine.

The Raptors played well enough during each of the individual possessions in that game … until the 3:14 mark of the 4th Quarter, trading blows, landing a few haymakers of their own and enduring some solid shots from their opponent, matching their intensity step for step.

Then, begining at the 3:14 mark of the 4th … the equivalent of the 14th round in a heavyweight championship title bout, in the old days, ‘When We Were Kings‘ style … the Celtics steeled themselves for the Final Onslaught, ‘hit & held’ in a tighter way than they had to that point, and the Raptors’ simply ‘Couldn’t Go Any Further With Them‘, knees buckling [figuratively & literally] under the barrage offerred up by ‘Tha Truth’, ‘Jesus S’, ‘The Warrior’, ‘Paul Bunyan’ and ‘The Tarantula’, in concert with one another.

In close, hard-fought games against High End teams in the NBA …

EXECUTION, in the 3 Main Phases of the Game, i.e. Offensively, Defensively & Rebounding, is what determines a specific team’s level of COLLECTIVE TOUGHNESS which, in turn, is what decides which team WINS and which one LOSES, based upon the individual match-ups and mis-matches amongst the 10 players who are on the court together during Crunch Time … i.e. in the 14th & 15th Rounds.

The Raptors went 1-for-7 … because the Celtics played hellacious DEFENSE, and the Raptors failed to convert on a series of TOUGH possessions.

The Celtics went 6-7 … because the Raptors played solid Defense, and the C’s have Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo, EACH ONE OF WHOM came through Big-time for them during their final 7 meanigful possessions.

End of story.