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].”
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.
The organization released the voting results on Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.
The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.
“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.
The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.
The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
