The run that gave Toronto their first championship in franchise history
The year was 2018, the Toronto Raptors have once again fallen to Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs. The Raptors were swept by the Cavaliers in the second round, becoming the first number one seed to get swept before the conference finals since 1969. Despite getting 59 wins in the regular season, the coach of the year Dwane Casey was ultimately fired and shortly replaced with Nick Nurse. The loss to the Cavaliers was a huge wake up call to the Raptors front office. For the previous 4 seasons the Raptors had put forward strong contending rosters, but alas the result stayed the same. Aside from getting to the Eastern conference finals, each season it seemed as if the chances to getting to the finals grew slimmer and slimmer every season. Until on July 18, 2018 the Raptors made a blockbuster trade sending away the home town hero Demar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a lottery-protected first-round pick for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. If firing Dwane Casey wasn’t enough change for General Manager Masai Ujiri, he then went on to trade away their best and most loyal player away for a superstar player in Kawhi Leonard. Playing his previous 7 seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, Leonard had quickly made a name for himself with the organization solidifying himself as a star alongside Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. In the 2013-2014 season was when Leonard finally broke out, leading the Spurs to the finals and ultimately winning the championship against the Miami Heat, with the likes of Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Leonard also went home with Finals MVP with an impressive showing that series.
With Leonard now being traded to the Toronto Raptors with such an impressive resume at the age of 27, the front office and the Raptors fans had something to look forward to despite having to say goodbye to one of the greatest Raptors players ever. The only blemish in this whole transaction was the fact that Leonard had made it obvious that his intentions were to play in Los Angeles his hometown. And with one year on his expiring contract, the front office and fans alike had to play the long game and hope for playoff success for them to have any chance of landing Kawhi Leonard. With a new coach in place, 2 new additions to the roster, the Raptors were ready to the begin the season. Off to a modest 6-0 start, the team was still finding their way and beginning to click. It was obvious that they wouldn’t gel together right away, but it was impressive to see how Leonard was able to play seeing that he had only played 9 games the season before with a left knee injury. The Raptors through their first 20 games had a record of 16-4, their best start in franchise history. Off to a modest start to the season, the Raptors were slowly climbing up the power rankings every week despite the Milwaukee Bucks playing incredible basketball with MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. But their was one glaring whole in the roster and that was defence. Aside from the fact that the Raptors possessed 2 All-defensive players in Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, they lacked defence strong enough to go up against the other big men in the east. The eastern conference had talent with big men which consisted of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embidd and Nikola Vucevic. All of which were also voted on to the All-Star team that season. At the time Raptors had Jonas Valanciunas and Serge Ibaka both excellent role player, but from the 2 Valanciunas often times was a defensive liability and would regularly sit closing time of a game. The Raptors were quick to realize the flaw in their roster and pursued the trade market, desperate to find a big man good enough to compete. On February 7, 2019 Jonas Valanciunas, Delon Wright, C.J. Miles and a draft pick were all sent to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Marc Gasol. Even with Gasol well past his prime, he was still a solid defensive player and often would play make too. With the Raptors now finalizing their roster for one final time, it was now time for the playoffs. Finishing 58-24 in the regular season, the Raptors clinched the 2nd seed in the east just behind the Bucks. In the playoffs, the Raptors defeated the Orlando Magic in 5 games to win the first round. The first game in the serious was a worrisome game for the fans, as the Raptors surprisingly lost despite coming as heavy favourites. Even with Leonard playing high CalabarBasketball, the supporting cast just didn’t show up on the day. But, heading into the second round the Raptors were facing a much tougher opponent in the Philadelphia 76ers.
This is when Gasol was most needed, having to defend Joel Embidd. Embidd finished the regular season with staggering number of 27 points per game, 1.9 blocks and 13.6 rebounds. Embidd ended the series with 17.6 point per game, 8.7 rebounds and 2 blocks, as Raptors clinched the series in 7 games with Leonard creating an iconic moment in game 7 of the series with his clutch shot to win the series. With the Raptors advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals for only the second time in franchise history, they were matched up with soon to be MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. For the first time in the playoffs, Raptors were going into a series without home advantage which made the matchup even more difficult. The Raptors got off to the worst possible start they could imagine, falling 0-2 in the first two games. They simply did not have an answer for Antetokounmpo. With game 3 being played in Toronto, Nick Nurse had a huge responsibility to come out with a game plan to stop Antetokounmpo. It was quite simply, make Leonard guard Antetokounmpo. You can never go wrong with assigning a back to back defensive player of the year to Antetokounmpo, and the move paid off. The Raptors would end up winning four straight games to finally for the first time in franchise history go to the NBA Finals. From having the historical Vince Carter era, to Chris Bosh bring Raptors back into relevancy after Carter’s departure to having Demar DeRozan take Raptors to several playoff runs. All those moments of the ups and downs paying off with the Raptors just four wins away from the championship. With Kevin Durant dealing with a calf injury and Klay Thompson in and out of games with injuries, the Raptors had a small window to work with before Golden state Warriors would be back with a fully healthy squad. The Raptors started off the series strong with a win at home, followed by a win back to back away wins in Golden State. With a chance to close out the series in game 5, Durant finally suited up and gave the Warriors that lift that they were so desperately in need of. But all that came crashing down when Durant ruptured his Achilles shortly before halftime. Even with the huge set back, the Warriors still closed out the very tight game in the fourth. With game 6 in San Francisco, the Raptors were facing a very tough situation as they wouldn’t want to go back to Toronto after being up 3-1. But as you might have guessed by looking at this newsletter, the Raptors did indeed manage to take care of business and finally after 24 years finally won their first championship. With the young guns on the team such as Pascal Siakiam and Fred Vanvleet putting up solid numbers in the finals, they now pave the way for the future of the organization. With Kawhi Leonard being declared the Finals MVP, he cemented himself as a Toronto icon and Raptors legend. But as the saying goes “All good things must come to an end”. Leonard left the following off season to the Los Angeles Clippers to team up with newly acquired Paul George. With Leonard being able to play at home, the future wasn’t quite clear for the team. Was it time for a rebuild or keep contending with the current roster? Based on how Siakiam and Vanvleet have stepped up this season, maybe the future does hold more glory.
Ash's blog 