Chris Bosh walked slowly off the United Center floor, one measly rebound away from getting another line in the Raptors record book after a dominant performance, joined by Shawn Marion, who'd been equally as impressive.
They had to be thinking, 'what if.' The frontcourt tandem of Bosh and Marion, even absent the third key part of the equation, had just slaughtered the Chicago Bulls in a 109-98 season-ending victory that at least provided some immediate gratification. Bosh had 21 points and 19 rebounds - one board away from an elusive 20-20 night - and Marion bounded his way to a season-high 34 points and 11 boards as the Raptors finished a disappointing season by winning nine of their last 13 games. The final one might have been the sweetest. Bosh finished the season averaging more than 20 points and 10 rebounds - only Dwight Howard of Orlando can make the same claim - and Jose Calderon made his only two free throws to give him a 98.1 per cent average from the line this season, the best in NBA history.
And Marion may have provided GM Bryan Colangelo with more reason to try and re-sign him in the summer after he simply beat the Bulls to almost every loose ball.
Now, the big finish was easier to accomplish because of the circumstances - the Raptors had been long shots for the playoffs since about February - but there were moments when Toronto looked great over the past three weeks.
They beat playoff-bound Chicago, Orlando and Philadelphia in the final stretch and looked more like a cohesive unit than they have at any point in the season.
They accomplished last night's rout without one of their key pieces as Andrea Bargnani sat out to rest his sore left heel.
Bargnani's overall improvement was the one bright spot of the season and another reason some look anxiously toward the future.
There were a couple of factors that played heavily into his emergence in the second half of the season.
A series of injuries that shelved Jermaine O'Neal, and ultimately O'Neal's February departure to Miami, freed up time at centre for the 23-year-old, which proved to be the position he's most comfortable at.
And the way he was handled by interim coach Jay Triano allowed Bargnani's confidence to blossom.
"If I did something good, that's fine," said Triano. "I just think here's a guy who had a lot of potential, had a lot of different parts to his game. I think he needed to be encouraged, needed a pat on the back and needed someone to tell him he was going to be a pretty good player and someone who believed in him.
"I've always believed he's going to be an excellent player, I've seen him train in the off-season, I've seen him work hard at his game, and getting stronger, spend time in the gym. I had no doubt and he knows I had confidence in him."
And that confidence paid off. Bargnani is not the kind of athlete who responds to harsh and public criticism; Triano seems to have found the right buttons to push.
"That is it, definitely, exactly," said Bargnani. "That's the best thing for a player, let me play through mistakes; if I do make a couple of mistakes, leave me on the court and in the next five minutes, maybe I score 10 points.
"That was the big help from Jay, that was great."
Bargnani posted career highs in all significant offensive categories this season and lead the team in blocks.
"I think he's just starting to become a very, very good player," said Triano. "He's shown that he can hit the three, he's got the pull-up (jump shot) now, he can take the ball all the way to the basket. I think it's just a matter of fine tuning the defensive end of the floor - which he's become a lot better at - and developing a passion for rebounding the Basketball and he'll become a complete player."
