The narrative was easy to craft, that the 76ers and Toronto Raptors picked right up where they left off, and that Monday's back-and-forth battle up North felt more like a game played in mid-May than at the end of November.
It was almost as if six months after the fact (we all know what 'the fact' is), the two Atlantic Division rivals suddenly found themselves in a Game 8.
The atmosphere inside Scotiabank Arena was raucous, the sellout crowd on its feet for the waning moments of a contest that was essentially in doubt until the final horn.
Yes, the vibes were indeed familiar.
But for the guys who actually lived through Monday's spirited affair, at least on the Sixers' side, no one was really buying the notion that their battle with Toronto - the first meeting of the foes since last year's dramatic playoff series - was anything more than a regular season game, and one the Sixers had hoped to win.
"It just felt like a game," said Ben Simmons, who set a season-high with 14 assists.
Tobias Harris, who added 18 points and five rebounds, had a similar stance.
And the Sixers nearly did.
After trailing by seven points late in the third quarter, the club benefited from timely perimeter shooting to get right back into contention. The Sixers went up six, 94-88, with five minutes to go in the fourth period, but Toronto closed the evening on a 13-2 run.
Following the loss, even with the immediate sting of narrow defeat fresh, there seemed to be sound perspective inside the visitor's locker room in Toronto. Were there some good things the 76ers did?
Yes. They nailed a season-best 15 3-pointers, commanded the rebounding battle, and played winning defense.
The Sixers also got another great perimeter shooting performance from Josh Richardson.
As for the lessons to be learned from a game like Monday's? Several members of the roster - Simmons, Harris, Richardson, and Joel Embiid - talk to reporters afterwards about cleaning up mistakes, a fair assessment given how everything played out.
Brett Brown hopes Monday's experience ultimately better prepares the Sixers to execute in the crunch against a "championship level defense" the next time around.
And that, perhaps, was the most important takeaway of all from Monday's loss. The Sixers will wake up Tuesday morning, with lots of "tomorrows" on the horizon.
Because for as much as this latest bout with the Raptors might have had shades of last spring's Eastern Conference Semifinals, the reality was that by comparison, the stakes weren't even close.
Instead, the Sixers still have a lengthy season ahead of them. No, the past can't be undone, but the goal is that it lays the groundwork for the continued growth of a group with a promising future.