Those final few seconds of last June’s title-clinching Game 6 win in Oakland felt like an eternity. It was a fitting conclusion for a team, franchise and fan base that had already waited so long.
A nail-biting turnover, a scramble for the ball, multiple reviews, plenty of confusion, a few free throws. Then, finally, the buzzer sounded and the Toronto Raptors were NBA champions.
That moment, which inspired a nation and touched so many lives, happened one year ago this coming Saturday, but for some it still seems surreal.
“To be honest with you, it still hasn’t hit me that the championship is real,” said Raptors guard Norman Powell. “I think there have been times when you think about it and it’s like, it’s here, it’s real, it’s tangible, [like] when you have the trophy in your hands… But besides that, when those moments come where people [say], “Hey, what up, Champ?” I still find it a little weird. It’s like, man, I’m really a champion. That’s like a lifelong childhood dream and you accomplished it. So, it’s still weird, but it feels right.”
Listening to members of that 2018-19 club reflect back on the experience 12 months later, what stands out is how deeply personal it was for each of them.
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To appreciate what made the night of June 13, 2019 so special for Powell you have to rewind a bit.
On May 25, just a few weeks earlier, the Raptors completed their unlikely series win over Milwaukee – rallying from an 0-2 hole to win a fourth straight game and advance to the Finals in front of their home crowd. Powell was also celebrating his 26th birthday.
Shortly after he and his teammates were presented with the Eastern Conference champion trophy – and showered in confetti – Powell made his way to the podium for his post-game press conference. He took a few questions from reporters and was about to head to the locker room, but there was one more from somebody in the back of the room. He recognized the voice.
“It was my mom,” Powell said. “I was just like, ‘I know that voice.’ I look and she’s standing by the curtain and she waved. It instantly brought a smile to my face.”
A photo was taken of them as they walked back from the pressroom together. He would later get it framed and give it to her as a gift.
Those are the types of moments that came to Powell’s mind immediately after winning his first NBA title. He thought about his mother and the rest of his family. He thought about his journey from San Diego to the pros and everybody in his life that helped make it possible.
“It just validated all the hard work and the sacrifices that I’ve put into this,” Powell said.
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Family was also the driving force behind Pascal Siakam and Serge Ibaka.
Siakam often thinks about his late father before and after games, especially at important milestones in his career, and this was the biggest one he had reached.
“Like I always say, I’m doing it for him,” Siakam told TSN in a champagne-soaked locker room after the Game 6 win. “I wish he was here but I know he’s proud of me. I’m just happy that I’m able to keep his name and legacy alive.”
What, or who, does Ibaka remember thinking about when he finally became a champion? To answer the question, the 11-year veteran reached for a book that’s displayed in the living room of his downtown Toronto condo. On the cover there’s a picture of him with his 13-year-old daughter, Ranie, on stage during the trophy presentation. It’s titled “Champ dad & Champ babe.” She had made it for him.
The two big men have something else in common. They both thought about where they come from – Siakam from Cameroon and Ibaka from the Republic of Congo – and what this could mean for the continent of Africa.
“Coming from where I come from, my people never [thought] I’d be where I am right now, winning an NBA Championship,” Ibaka remembers thinking in that moment. “And during that game, I know they were watching. So in my mind it was like, what are they going to think about it? How are they going to react? What are they going to learn from this?”
“I’ll say this and I’ll keep saying it: To me, winning a championship was bigger than just me.”
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Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green were already champions when they came to Toronto in the blockbuster trade from San Antonio the previous summer. They won rings together in 2014 but they wanted to prove they were more than just cogs in the Spurs machine.
“The biggest thing that I’ll always take away from it is I feel like me and Kawhi helped bring something special to the city,” Green told TSN over the phone last month. “A lot of times people don’t expect [players] to survive or do [well] outside of [Gregg Popovich’s] system. And this isn’t to take a jab at Pop or anything, but for us to succeed in another system, another organization, and bring a championship to the city, made it really special.”
When they won the title in San Antonio they were both young, complimentary pieces, playing in the shadow of future Hall of Famers, a legendary head coach and one of the league’s most accomplished franchises. With the Raptors, they were filling different roles at a different stage in their careers.
This time, Leonard wasn’t a rising star. He was an established superstar and the undisputed top dog on the court. Green wasn’t in his mid-20s anymore. He was 31 and one of the most experienced players on a team that needed his leadership and championship pedigree.
Green’s tenure was brief, like Leonard’s, but his lone season in Toronto will always stand alone in his mind.
“To do it in more than one city and with a younger group of guys [also made it special],” said the Lakers guard. “It was a different type of role – throughout the year kinda coaching guys, teaching them and [showing] them what it takes to win. In San Antonio we weren’t in that role, we were the guys learning from the older guys – Tim [Duncan], Tony [Parker], Manu [Ginobili], Pop. So, to actually have the roles reversed, having those young guys follow our lead and help them experience something special, that’s something that will stick with me forever.”
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Fred VanVleet was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief once Game 6 was over. He played a crucial role in securing that last win – scoring 22 points and hitting five threes, including three in the fourth quarter. He was excellent in the series and even earned a vote for Finals MVP, but his postseason had been a roller coaster.
Mired in a bad and very public slump, the Raptors’ guard went from playoff goat to playoff hero in just a few weeks. That it coincided with the birth of his son, Fred Jr., made for a fun story, but it certainly didn’t help his sleep schedule. It did make the celebration that much sweeter, though.
“The journey of actually being in the playoffs was way more excruciating and intense than I thought it would be just because of how long it took to finish those series out,” VanVleet said. “I mean, two and half extra months of basketball, but the actual winning and celebrating and having the whole summer to enjoy it and kind of rest on what you’ve done, that was beyond anything I could have imagined.”
VanVleet says he never doubted himself, which isn’t hard to believe – he’s as confident as they come – but he did have a few moments of frustration. One of them came after playing just seven minutes in Game 4 of the second-round series against Philadelphia.
“I had a moment with myself in the hotel room just thinking and watching the game, trying to figure out how to be better,” he said. “That was a tough night for me, for sure, but I was able to talk to some of my coaches and they [kept] me on the right track and understanding that it’s a long, long run in the playoffs. I needed to stay emotionally ready for whenever my moment was to come. I think being able to bounce back out of that, it was a little added validation for me to play as well as I played after that.”
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It’s hard to imagine that title-clinching win meaning more to anybody than it did to the guy who fuelled it – the Raptors’ longest-tenured player, Kyle Lowry.
Famously, Lowry scored 11 of his 26 points in succession to start Game 6. After going scoreless in the playoff opener against Orlando – and taking plenty of heat for it – it seemed fitting for him to cap off the championship run with one of his best performances ever.
Lowry is arguably the most important player in franchise history. In eight seasons with Toronto, the point guard has made six All-Star games and led the team to seven straight playoff appearances. He’s adapted to different roles in different systems next to different players. All the while, he’s remained their heart and soul.
Still, there are people that question whether he should be considered among the league’s most valuable players. They’ll resurrect the false narrative that he fades in the playoffs. They’ll say he doesn’t score enough or won’t take big shots. At this point, he’s heard it all.
Like VanVleet, Lowry had to be feeling some vindication when he held up that trophy.
“Nobody deserves it more than that guy, man,” VanVleet told TSN after the Game 6 win over Golden State. “People crap on him and talk bad about him more than any other player in this league that I’ve seen. Our own fans kill him, and he’s taken the brunt of a lot of slander over the years, but he takes it like a champ.”
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The Raptors’ reign as defending champions has been extended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the NBA to suspend play in March. If everything goes according to plan, the season could resume next month, meaning the league would crown a new champion by mid-October.
Despite their continued success – they sit second in the East – there still aren’t many people outside of Toronto picking the Raptors to repeat, and there were far fewer right after Leonard and Green left in free agency last July. They’re not losing sleep over it, though.
While last year’s championship means different things to every player, the common denominator seems to be this idea of validation. They each proved something to somebody, or to themselves, that night in Oakland.
“To be simple and truthful, I don’t care what people think of the Raptors,” Siakam said. “I think for us it’s been a lot of years of caring about ‘Oh, love me too’, you know what I mean? I think that’s over, man. We are where we are. We are the champions, and if you don’t see it that’s your problem. For us, it’s about us. We’re not worried about what other people think. We’re worried about us. We’re worried about continuing to win games and chase championships. That’s the only thing we care about.”
“For the organization, I think it just shows that you can’t continue to count us out, and yet, they still do,” said Powell. “But we’re here and we have our piece and our mark on history at the championship level, and so you can’t take that away from us. We’re going to continue to put that pressure on you and show that we can win not just one, but multiple [titles].”
NEW YORK – Toronto Blue Jays reliever Chad Green and Canadian slugger Tyler O’Neill of the Boston Red Sox were named finalists for the Major League Baseball Players’ Association’s American League comeback player award on Monday.
Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet was the other nominee.
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. were named player of the year finalists.
The award winners, selected via player voting, will be named Saturday before Game 2 of the World Series.
Green, who missed most of the 2022 and ’23 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery, was a high-leverage option for the Blue Jays this past season and filled in at closer over the second half of the campaign.
The right-hander converted his first 16 save opportunities and finished the year with a 4-6 record, 17 saves and a 3.21 earned-run average over 53 appearances.
O’Neill, a native of Burnaby, B.C., also endured back-to-back injury-plagued seasons in ’22 and ’23.
After being traded to the Red Sox in the off-season, O’Neill set an MLB record by hitting a homer in his fifth straight Opening Day. He finished with 31 homers on the year and had an OPS of .847.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
NEW YORK – Florida Panthers centre Sam Reinhart was named NHL first star of the week on Monday after leading all players with nine points over four games last week.
Reinhart had four goals, five assists and a plus-seven rating to help the Stanley Cup champions post a 3-0-1 record on the week and move into first place in the Atlantic Division.
New York Rangers left-winger Artemi Panarin took the second star and Minnesota Wild goaltenderFilip Gustavsson was the third star.
Panarin had eight points (4-4) over three games.
Gustavsson became the 15th goalie in NHL history to score a goal and had a 1.00 goals-against average and .962 save percentage over a pair of victories.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Deshaun Watson won’t finish the season as Cleveland’s starting quarterback for the second straight year.
He’s injured again, and the Browns have new problems.
Watson ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the first half of Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati, collapsing as he began to run and leading some Browns fans to cheer while the divisive QB laid on the ground writhing in pain.
The team feared Watson’s year was over and tests done Monday confirmed the rupture. The Browns said Watson will have surgery and miss the rest of the season but “a full recovery is expected.”
It’s the second significant injury in two seasons for Watson, who broke the glenoid (socket) bone in his throwing shoulder last year after just six starts.
The 29-year-old went down Sunday without being touched on a draw play late in the first half. His right leg buckled and Watson crumpled to the turf. TV replays showed his calf rippling, consistent with an Achilles injury.
He immediately put his hands on his helmet, clearly aware of the severity of an injury similar to the one Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sustained last year.
As he was being assisted by the team’s medical staff and backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson grabbed a ball to begin warming up, there was some derisive cheers and boos from the stands in Huntington Bank Field.
Cleveland fans have been split over Watson, who has been accused of being sexually inappropriate with women.
The reaction didn’t sit well with several Watson’s teammates, including star end Myles Garrett, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who was appalled by the fans’ behavior.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves as Browns and as fans to boo anyone and their downfall. To be season-altering, career-altering injury,” Garrett said. “Man’s not perfect. He doesn’t need to be. None of us are expected to be perfect. Can’t judge him for what he does off the field or on the field because I can’t throw stones for my glass house.
“Ultimately everyone’s human and they’re disappointed just like we are, but we have to be better than that as people. There’s levels to this. At the end of the day, it’s just a game and you don’t boo anybody being injured and you don’t celebrate anyone’s downfall.”
Backup quarterback Jameis Winston also admonished the uncomfortable celebration.
“I am very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years, and he put his body and life on the line for this city every single day,” he said. “The way I was raised, I will never pull on a man when he’s down, but I will be the person to lift him up.
“I know you love this game. When I first got here, I knew these were some amazing fans, but Deshaun was treated badly and now he has to overcome another obstacle. So I’m going to support him, I’m going to lift him up and I’m going to be there for him.”
The injury is yet another twist in Watson’s tumultuous time with the Browns.
Cleveland traded three first-round draft picks and five overall to Houston in 2022 to get him, with owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam approving the team giving Watson a fully guaranteed, five-year $230 million contract.
With a solid roster, the Browns were desperate to find a QB who could help them compete against the top AFC teams.
The Browns had moved on from Baker Mayfield despite drafting him No. 1 overall in 2018 and making the playoffs two seasons later.
But Watson has not played up to expectations — fans have been pushing for him to be benched this season — and Cleveland’s move to get him has been labeled an abject failure with the team still on the hook to pay him $46 million in each of the next two seasons.
Watson’s arrival in Cleveland also came amid accusations by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and harassment during massage therapy sessions while he played for the Texans. Two grand juries declined to indict him and he has settled civil lawsuits in all but one of the cases.
Watson was suspended by the NFL for his first 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the league’s personal conduct policy before he took his first snap with the Browns. The long layoff — he sat out the 2021 season in a contract dispute — led to struggles once he got on the field, and Watson made just six starts last season before hurting his shoulder.
Cleveland signed veteran Joe Flacco, who went 4-1 as a starter and led the Browns to the playoffs.
Before Watson got hurt this year, he didn’t play much better. He was one of the league’s lowest-rated passers for a Cleveland team that hasn’t scored 20 points in a game and is back in search of a franchise QB.
