Sunday, May 26, 2019
The Toronto Raptors have won the Eastern Conference and sit four wins away from the first NBA title in franchise history.
Let that soak in for a minute, considering all that’s happened in the past quarter century on the hardwood in Canada.
The Raptors thrilled another sell-out crowd and the millions watching across the country by beating the Milwaukee Bucks 100-94 to become the first international club to reach the NBA Finals, which will begin Thursday north of the border against the Golden State Warriors.
With Scotiabank Arena loud, perhaps louder than ever before in the biggest game ever played in the building, the Raptors launched an improbable comeback in the second half, behind, who else – the unmistakably great Kawhi Leonard, who had 27 points, 17 rebounds and seven assists.
Leonard, who has been the best player in these playoffs, had another game for the ages, despite a quiet start and a rough outside shooting night.
He needed to be great in the game’s latter stages and he was.
Toronto helped its cause immensely by shaving off some points while Leonard rested for the final load. In that time Kyle Lowry, superb again with 17 points, eight assists and five rebounds, found Serge Ibaka for a slam dunk to tie the game. The building went wild.
Then Pascal Siakam finished off a pick-and-roll with a floater set up by Fred VanVleet, who was lights-out from three-point range for the third game in a row and Lowry took a huge charge.
The coup de gras was a soaring Leonard slam dunk over Giannis Antetokounmpo, set up by a Lowry steal. Likely league MVP Antetokounmpo had a strong game, but Leonard was a notch above. The dunk was just the latest all-timer moment delivered in 18 playoff games by Leonard.
It could have been over from there – both Leonard and Siakam rimmed out three-pointers that were halfway down – but the NBA’s best regular season team, Milwaukee, fought desperately and admirably right until the bitter end.
Leonard tried for a huge dunk but was met way up in the sky by Giannis, who had to watch helplessly as Siakam cleaned up the garbage then played great defence to deny Khris Middleton.
But yet it was a three-point game with 7.9 seconds to go when Siakam grabbed an offensive rebound to give the Raptors a fresh shot clock (following a review) and a chance to ice the game at the foul line. Which they did, thanks to Siakam hitting 1-of-2 and Leonard swooping in for an offensive rebound and draining both free throws to seal the deal.
Milwaukee had a 25-13 rebounding edge at the half and had scored 27 points off of three-pointers, compared to 15 for Toronto as Toronto’s big men got into foul trouble.
Milwaukee got extremely balanced scoring, with four players picking up at least eight points in the opening two quarters.
Leonard was relatively quiet in the first half, scoring just eight points, with Siakam and Lowry leading the way, but that would change in the third.
Leonard was everywhere in the frame, helping the Raptors rally from Milwaukee’s 13-point edge by scoring and attacking the glass. The crowd went from subdued to on the edge of its seat in the blink of an eye as Leonard collected his own rebound off of a missed free throw. When all hope seemed lost Kawhi was a monster.
It felt like Toronto should be down a fair bit after three (the team had trailed 31-18 and 50-43), but instead trailed only by five points.
Toronto had gotten off to a horrible offensive start – nothing would fall – and got destroyed on the boards. Meanwhile, the Bucks, with the season on the line, threw everything at Toronto and filled it up from three-point range the way they did as the NBA’s best regular season team.
But then Leonard took over, with a major assist from Lowry, who has proven in these playoffs that his five all-star selections were fully deserved and that he perhaps has the best resume of any Raptor while with the team.
A large number of celebrities took in the game. Players from the Blue Jays, Toronto FC, ex-NFL running back Jamaal Charles and Argonauts legend Pinball Clemons, amongst them, but the biggest cheer was for former Raptor Bismack Biyombo. With Gasol and Ibaka in foul trouble, Biyombo would have been a useful addition for Toronto early.
In the end, they had what they needed on hand and got the job done.
Next up, former Toronto resident Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, DeMarcus Cousins and, perhaps, Kevin Durant.
As usual, many countries will be watching. But, for the first time ever, Canada will have a rooting interest.
Buckle up.