Toronto Raptors: the NBA Champions!!!
OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!
I can't believe I just typed those words (no, not "oh my god"). The Toronto Raptors are the NBA champions!!!
This is my first championship moment as a Toronto sports fan, and I don't even know how to feel. It's all new to me.
I started writing this at about 3:50 p.m. Friday my time, which is about 3 hours after the end of our clinching Game 6 in the finals. I am distracted by the post-game coverage. I've been watching the same interviews over and over again, with shots of people packing streets of Toronto and other cities across Canada in celebration of the country's first NBA title.
I am going to enjoy this, watching highlights (and later, the whole game), reading glowing articles about our great team and listening to even more glowing podcasts, etc, etc. So I don't know if I am going to finish this entry before today. But I'll give it a shot.
So where do I begin?
I didn't blog during the finals mainly because I didn't want to jinx the Raptors. No, seriously. I believe in those things. I didn't want to get too excited after our Game 1 win. I didn't want to gloat too much after we took Games 3 and 4 at Oracle. Even when talking with my basketball-fan friends or fellow Raptors fans, I stuck to my "reverse jinx" course.
But deep inside, I knew the Raptors have been the better team all along. Really, this should have been a sweep. KD or no KD, or Klay or no Klay, we only have to play the team at the other side of the court, and we were the better team. There's no doubt about that in my mind and I won't let anyone tell me otherwise.
(Okay, the post-game coverage ended. Here I go.)
Ever since we got to three wins, I went to bed every night thinking about how I was going to react when we clinched the championship. I am a pretty emotional guy, and so I knew I was going to cry tears of joy for sure. I am not going to lie. Just picturing the moment when our guys lifted the Larry O. B brought tears to my eyes. And I've never shed tears of joy over sports before because I'VE NEVER HAD A FREAKING CHANCE TO DO SO!!!!
And once we clinched the title, I reacted exactly like I knew I would. I cried. And I am not ashamed to admit that. But I didn't get as emotional as I'd feared (!) because the finish was all so anti-climactic. You know, when Kawhi got fouled by Iggy with less than a second remaining. They should have just given Kawhi that basket and let the game go. The refs didn't call fouls on much harder contact at either end throughout the game. They robbed us fans of a more celebratory finish. But I ain't complaining too much BECAUSE WE WON THE DAMN TROPHY!!!
My wife, who is not a sports fan and who has a hard time understanding my long-distance fandom, just asked me which would mean more to me: a Toronto major sports championship or a Korea winning the FIFA World Cup.
My answer: Toronto winning a title, and it's not even close. Korea winning the World Cup means nothing to me. It only means extra work. I guess it will help me pay the bills. But that's it. If anything, I'll probably dread it if it ever happens because IT ONLY MEANS EXTRA WORK. And who enjoys extra work??
I have zero rooting interest in Korean professional sports teams or Korean national teams of any kind. That's because I watched them for work. And you know what they say about cheering in the press box. There are members of my brethren who openly cheer for teams that they cover. I don't hold that against them. I am just not like that. Even when Korea does well at international competitions like the Olympics or world championships, I don't get excited at all.
It's obviously different for me when it comes to Toronto teams, the Blue Jays, the Leafs and the Raptors. They're dear to my heart. Watching them and cheering for them defined my formative years. You can take me out of Toronto, but you'll never take Toronto sports out of me.
Anyway, the beginning of my time in Toronto coincided with the Raptors' inaugural season in the fall of 1995. I've been following this team since Day 1, and I think it makes this championship that much sweeter. After the St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup this week, the Leafs now have the longest title drought in the NHL. Yes, I'd be ecstatic if the Leafs ever win, but I am not sure if it will feel quite the same as the Raptors' win. Nothing beats the first time.
I arrived in Toronto in October of 1995. I found out the city was going to have its first NBA team. It was cool to be living in a city with teams in all three big sports.
I only recognized three players on the first Raptors team: Oliver Miller, Ed Pinckney and John Salley. It was a team of castoffs, obviously, plus our first draft pick in Damon Stoudamire. But hey, at least I was going to get to see other NBA stars.
But almost 24 years later, it's come to this. The Raptors have won the NBA championship.
I am glad we took care of business in six games because watching the finals has been incredibly stressful and I wasn't sure my heart could take another finals game. The first four games have been relatively okay in terms of the stress level. I guess Game 2 was frustrating but it was early enough in the series that I felt we'd have a chance to put it behind and I felt we were the better team in those first two games anyway. But once we got to three wins, the stress level went up a few notches.
Game 5 was bonkers. When we went up by six with about 3 minutes to play, my heart started pounding like crazy. My whole body started shaking. I had such visceral reactions to what was happening on a basketball court 13 time zones away from where I was watching. I couldn't imagine being a player in that thing. I probably couldn't even stand being a spectator there, either. I would have collapsed.
Then of course, Steph Curry happened. Just like that, we lost the game by one point. The final stretch was a blur to me. When I finally realized what happened, my head started hurting. The letdown after the adrenaline rush was killing me. I didn't want to do anything but just lie down and recover.
And the two days before Game 6 didn't make it easy on me. All that build-up. Will the Raptors bounce back and close this thing out? Will the Warriors rally around KD and win the final game at Oracle? If the series goes to Game 7, will the Raptors be under too much pressure on them?
So many story lines. So many possibilities.
During the second quarter in Game 6, I decided I should try to enjoy this more. After all, there's no guarantee the Raptors will be in the finals again. If they're going to Game 7, well, it's another finals game to watch. I don't know what got to me in that particular moment, and I think we were even trailing when I had this shift inside my mind. I took a few deep breaths, and tried to stay positive through all those lead changes (18? 19??).
A few closing thoughts.
I can see how some disgruntled Warriors fans may feel there should be an asterisk attached to our championship because they didn't have KD for all but 11 minutes of the finals and Klay for 1.5 games. Well, that's B.S. to me. One, you can only play the team at the other end of the court. Two, it's not like the Warriors have been playing fully healthy teams all along during their championship years. Three, injuries are part of the game, so deal with it. If anything, blame the Warriors' front office for front-loading on talent at the expense of bench depth.
After Klay left, during one stretch in the fourth quarter, the five Warriors on the court were: Livingston, Jerebko, Draymond, Cousins and Cook. I mean, that's an underwhelming unit. I don't care who you're playing, but it's hard to win a title with a five-man unit like that playing any extended minutes.
Much has been made about the fact that we didn't have one lottery pick on our roster. I think it sends a message to the rest of the league (i.e. Knicks) that maybe tanking for high draft picks isn't the only way to go about trying to win the championship. Of our five starters, only Spicy P was our draft pick, and he was 27th selection. The other four arrived via trades: Kyle, Kawhi, Gasol and Danny G. FVV was an undrafted free agent. We got Norm in a trade. Ditto for Serge. And we still have some young assets in OG and Boucher and Co. that a complete rebuild may not be necessary even after Kyle's and Serge's deals expire and Masai decides to go in another direction.
(BTW, just looking at Siakam's draft class in 2016. Of 26 players picked before him, I'll take maybe three players ahead of Siakam right now. Ben Simmons, Buddy Hield, Jamal Murray.)
Shrew trading, strong player development and some luck at the draft table... That's what made us champions. And having a top-three caliber player in Kawhi Leonard doesn't hurt, either.
This has been a crazy day. I am glad I got the day off from work. Hey, there are more important things in life than work, like cheering for your favorite team with the NBA championship on the line.
Before Game 6, I kept thinking about how much I'd cry if we won it all. Now that it's become a reality, just thinking back to the final buzzer brings a smile to my face every time.
Let's Go Raptors!
I can't believe I just typed those words (no, not "oh my god"). The Toronto Raptors are the NBA champions!!!
This is my first championship moment as a Toronto sports fan, and I don't even know how to feel. It's all new to me.
I started writing this at about 3:50 p.m. Friday my time, which is about 3 hours after the end of our clinching Game 6 in the finals. I am distracted by the post-game coverage. I've been watching the same interviews over and over again, with shots of people packing streets of Toronto and other cities across Canada in celebration of the country's first NBA title.
I am going to enjoy this, watching highlights (and later, the whole game), reading glowing articles about our great team and listening to even more glowing podcasts, etc, etc. So I don't know if I am going to finish this entry before today. But I'll give it a shot.
So where do I begin?
I didn't blog during the finals mainly because I didn't want to jinx the Raptors. No, seriously. I believe in those things. I didn't want to get too excited after our Game 1 win. I didn't want to gloat too much after we took Games 3 and 4 at Oracle. Even when talking with my basketball-fan friends or fellow Raptors fans, I stuck to my "reverse jinx" course.
But deep inside, I knew the Raptors have been the better team all along. Really, this should have been a sweep. KD or no KD, or Klay or no Klay, we only have to play the team at the other side of the court, and we were the better team. There's no doubt about that in my mind and I won't let anyone tell me otherwise.
(Okay, the post-game coverage ended. Here I go.)
Ever since we got to three wins, I went to bed every night thinking about how I was going to react when we clinched the championship. I am a pretty emotional guy, and so I knew I was going to cry tears of joy for sure. I am not going to lie. Just picturing the moment when our guys lifted the Larry O. B brought tears to my eyes. And I've never shed tears of joy over sports before because I'VE NEVER HAD A FREAKING CHANCE TO DO SO!!!!
And once we clinched the title, I reacted exactly like I knew I would. I cried. And I am not ashamed to admit that. But I didn't get as emotional as I'd feared (!) because the finish was all so anti-climactic. You know, when Kawhi got fouled by Iggy with less than a second remaining. They should have just given Kawhi that basket and let the game go. The refs didn't call fouls on much harder contact at either end throughout the game. They robbed us fans of a more celebratory finish. But I ain't complaining too much BECAUSE WE WON THE DAMN TROPHY!!!
My wife, who is not a sports fan and who has a hard time understanding my long-distance fandom, just asked me which would mean more to me: a Toronto major sports championship or a Korea winning the FIFA World Cup.
My answer: Toronto winning a title, and it's not even close. Korea winning the World Cup means nothing to me. It only means extra work. I guess it will help me pay the bills. But that's it. If anything, I'll probably dread it if it ever happens because IT ONLY MEANS EXTRA WORK. And who enjoys extra work??
I have zero rooting interest in Korean professional sports teams or Korean national teams of any kind. That's because I watched them for work. And you know what they say about cheering in the press box. There are members of my brethren who openly cheer for teams that they cover. I don't hold that against them. I am just not like that. Even when Korea does well at international competitions like the Olympics or world championships, I don't get excited at all.
It's obviously different for me when it comes to Toronto teams, the Blue Jays, the Leafs and the Raptors. They're dear to my heart. Watching them and cheering for them defined my formative years. You can take me out of Toronto, but you'll never take Toronto sports out of me.
Anyway, the beginning of my time in Toronto coincided with the Raptors' inaugural season in the fall of 1995. I've been following this team since Day 1, and I think it makes this championship that much sweeter. After the St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup this week, the Leafs now have the longest title drought in the NHL. Yes, I'd be ecstatic if the Leafs ever win, but I am not sure if it will feel quite the same as the Raptors' win. Nothing beats the first time.
I arrived in Toronto in October of 1995. I found out the city was going to have its first NBA team. It was cool to be living in a city with teams in all three big sports.
I only recognized three players on the first Raptors team: Oliver Miller, Ed Pinckney and John Salley. It was a team of castoffs, obviously, plus our first draft pick in Damon Stoudamire. But hey, at least I was going to get to see other NBA stars.
But almost 24 years later, it's come to this. The Raptors have won the NBA championship.
I am glad we took care of business in six games because watching the finals has been incredibly stressful and I wasn't sure my heart could take another finals game. The first four games have been relatively okay in terms of the stress level. I guess Game 2 was frustrating but it was early enough in the series that I felt we'd have a chance to put it behind and I felt we were the better team in those first two games anyway. But once we got to three wins, the stress level went up a few notches.
Game 5 was bonkers. When we went up by six with about 3 minutes to play, my heart started pounding like crazy. My whole body started shaking. I had such visceral reactions to what was happening on a basketball court 13 time zones away from where I was watching. I couldn't imagine being a player in that thing. I probably couldn't even stand being a spectator there, either. I would have collapsed.
Then of course, Steph Curry happened. Just like that, we lost the game by one point. The final stretch was a blur to me. When I finally realized what happened, my head started hurting. The letdown after the adrenaline rush was killing me. I didn't want to do anything but just lie down and recover.
And the two days before Game 6 didn't make it easy on me. All that build-up. Will the Raptors bounce back and close this thing out? Will the Warriors rally around KD and win the final game at Oracle? If the series goes to Game 7, will the Raptors be under too much pressure on them?
So many story lines. So many possibilities.
During the second quarter in Game 6, I decided I should try to enjoy this more. After all, there's no guarantee the Raptors will be in the finals again. If they're going to Game 7, well, it's another finals game to watch. I don't know what got to me in that particular moment, and I think we were even trailing when I had this shift inside my mind. I took a few deep breaths, and tried to stay positive through all those lead changes (18? 19??).
A few closing thoughts.
I can see how some disgruntled Warriors fans may feel there should be an asterisk attached to our championship because they didn't have KD for all but 11 minutes of the finals and Klay for 1.5 games. Well, that's B.S. to me. One, you can only play the team at the other end of the court. Two, it's not like the Warriors have been playing fully healthy teams all along during their championship years. Three, injuries are part of the game, so deal with it. If anything, blame the Warriors' front office for front-loading on talent at the expense of bench depth.
After Klay left, during one stretch in the fourth quarter, the five Warriors on the court were: Livingston, Jerebko, Draymond, Cousins and Cook. I mean, that's an underwhelming unit. I don't care who you're playing, but it's hard to win a title with a five-man unit like that playing any extended minutes.
Much has been made about the fact that we didn't have one lottery pick on our roster. I think it sends a message to the rest of the league (i.e. Knicks) that maybe tanking for high draft picks isn't the only way to go about trying to win the championship. Of our five starters, only Spicy P was our draft pick, and he was 27th selection. The other four arrived via trades: Kyle, Kawhi, Gasol and Danny G. FVV was an undrafted free agent. We got Norm in a trade. Ditto for Serge. And we still have some young assets in OG and Boucher and Co. that a complete rebuild may not be necessary even after Kyle's and Serge's deals expire and Masai decides to go in another direction.
(BTW, just looking at Siakam's draft class in 2016. Of 26 players picked before him, I'll take maybe three players ahead of Siakam right now. Ben Simmons, Buddy Hield, Jamal Murray.)
Shrew trading, strong player development and some luck at the draft table... That's what made us champions. And having a top-three caliber player in Kawhi Leonard doesn't hurt, either.
This has been a crazy day. I am glad I got the day off from work. Hey, there are more important things in life than work, like cheering for your favorite team with the NBA championship on the line.
Before Game 6, I kept thinking about how much I'd cry if we won it all. Now that it's become a reality, just thinking back to the final buzzer brings a smile to my face every time.
Let's Go Raptors!
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