"It's tough to get past this motherf**ker": Former 'LeBronto' victim once testified to LeBron James' playoff dominance citing own experiences

When LeBron James was playing for the Miami Heat and the Cleveland Cavaliers, his teams dominated the Eastern Conference. From 2011-2018, James made it into the Finals eight consecutive times.

During this run, he helped lead his teams to a total of three championships. Two with the Heat and one with the Cavs. This eight-year dominance also saw LeBron develop into a villain for other Eastern Conference teams that were hoping to make it into the Finals.

One of the teams that LeBron repeatedly bulldozed in the playoffs was the Toronto Raptors. He was so dominant against them in fact, that Toronto was renamed to "LeBronto."

DeMar DeRozan, one of the Toronto Raptors' stars at the time recalled what it was like trying to beat a LeBron James-led team in a seven-game series. He spoke on "Old Man and the Three" podcast earlier this year:

"It's definitely different. I mean, I remember for years, I always caught so much flak, you know? Us being the better team or whatever, he was at one point in the Eastern Conference Finals, and people not realizing like it's tough to get past this motherf**ker. I don't care who you are, you know what I mean?

DeRozan was referring to two different occasions. One was the 2017-18 season, where the Toronto Raptors were the number one seed entering the playoffs with a 59-23 record. The Cavs were fourth with 50-32. The other occasion was the 2016 playoffs where they faced the Cavs in the conference finals.

"And to see him come to the West and be able to do the same thing," DeRozan added. "It's a testament to his greatness and his IQ to the game when you go out there and play."

DeRozan certainly knows the difficulties of trying to beat LeBron James in the post-season, as he and the Raptors were eliminated by the Cavs in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

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LeBron James' stats against the Toronto Raptors in the playoffs from 2016-2018

"LeBronto" was born in the second game in Round 2 of the 2018 playoffs, when LeBron James was having another dominant game against the Raptors on their home court.

ESPN's Mark Jones coined the new name for Toronto just before the start of the fourth quarter as the game entered into a commercial break. James ended that particular game with a near triple-double, as he racked up 14 assists, 8 rebounds, and 43 points to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a win.

This run of dominance against the Raptors was nothing new for LeBron James, as in the previous years he put up crazy numbers against them in the post-season.

In 2016, he recorded 26.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 6.7 assists. The following year, he would put up 36.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 5.3 assists. Finally, in 2018, he averaged 34.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 11.3 assists. James' record against them in the playoffs during this three-year stretch was 12-2.