The Toronto Raptors have tied the Eastern Conference Finals at 2-2. Now, they must rely on playoff experience to help them reach the franchise’s first NBA finals.
These Toronto Raptors haven’t been together for very long.
Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green were added to the roster over the summer. Nick Nurse was handed his very first head coaching job in the NBA over the summer. Marc Gasol was traded for, halfway through the season. In total, the Raptors returned less than half of last year’s playoff roster.
Even Pascal Siakam, who was a bench player last year, essentially transformed himself into a different player, blossoming into the team’s second-leading scorer.
History tells us that teams like this usually take a while to gel and that new teams must fail together before they can succeed together. History also tells us that in the NBA playoffs, there is no substitute for experience.
The team may be new, but the Toronto Raptors’ veteran core is as experienced as nearly any in the league.
Hard-earned playoff experience
Kyle Lowry has now made the playoffs with the same team in each of the last six seasons. He is the only player in the Eastern Conference who can say that.
Though he’s had some questionable playoff performances in the past, no one questions his experience and ability to lead a team.
Danny Green has played in the playoffs for nine consecutive seasons, eight of those as a starter.
In the 2013 NBA Finals, the San Antonio Spurs lost to the Miami Heat in seven games. Danny Green would have received some serious consideration as Finals MVP had the Spurs won that series – Green broke the NBA Finals record for three-pointers in a game and was the Spurs’ leading scorer in two of the games.
Kawhi Leonard’s playoff record speaks for itself. At 22 years old, he was a Finals MVP, and a little over a week ago, he made the only buzzer-beating game-winner in a Game 7 in NBA history.
Serge Ibaka has nine years of playoff experience under his belt, with an appearance in the NBA Finals as well. Ibaka was part of one of the very few teams to have ever come back to win a series after trailing 2-0 in the 2012 Western Conference Finals as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Marc Gasol played in 6 postseasons as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies, starting every game he played.
Like Ibaka, Gasol was a member of a team that advanced in the playoffs despite the seemingly insurmountable odds. Gasol and the #8 seed Grizzlies beat the #1 seed Spurs in the first round of the 2011 playoffs, becoming one of only five #8 seeds in NBA history to do so.
The roster is filled with grizzled playoff vets. Even the players who don’t have deep playoff runs under their belt — Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, Norman Powell — have at least some postseason experience.
Playoff failures
Many Raptors have succeeded in playoffs past, but only Green and Leonard have reached the ultimate goal of winning an NBA championship, and they only did it once.
Lowry and the Raptors struggled for years to get past LeBron James and never did.
Ibaka and the Thunder, even with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, only made it past the Western Conference Finals once.
Marc Gasol and the gritty Grizzlies never made the finals.
For every success that the experienced Raptors have, there is a failure. Masai Ujiri has masterfully assembled a team that has been there before.
A team that has seen it all. A team full of players that have paid their dues.
The Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks, on the other hand, are new to this.
While they have a few experienced veterans such as George Hill, their main contributors have never advanced this far in the NBA playoffs. They have neither success nor failure to fall back on.
The Bucks may have more talent than the Raptors, especially if Kawhi Leonard’s health is in question, and they’ve shown that they have a bigger group of reliable contributors than the Raptors do.
As far as experience goes, however, the edge goes to the Raptors and it’s not even remotely close.
The Raptors need to hope that experience can carry them through what will be the toughest two or three games of the season so far.
If you prescribe to the idea that the basketball gods reward hard work and perseverance, the Raptors have a real chance.