The Toronto Raptors are on the brink of an NBA title. This is how they got here, and why you should feel confident that they’re going to win the damn thing.
Maybe writing this will turn out to be a huge mistake. Maybe, if I had more clout, this would be prime material next week for the “Old Takes Exposed” Twitter account. Maybe the Toronto Raptors will lose three straight games for the first time since November.
There’s no need to rehash recent NBA history. If you’re reading an article on this here internet and haven’t heard or seen any 3-1 jokes over the past three years, you must be living under that rock with Patrick Star. As it’s been throughout this Raptors playoff run, history is now irrelevant.
“Let’s see if they can start their own history,” head coach Nick Nurse said of the team just before they closed out their first-round series.
That they have. They’ve enjoyed the franchise’s first-ever 4-1 victory in a best-of-seven series, the NBA’s first-ever game-winning buzzer beater in a Game 7, and one of the few comebacks from down 0-2 in league history.
They defeated a hot Orlando Magic team, a star-studded Philadelphia 76ers team (one that looks more impressive by the day), and a 60-win team led by the top candidates for MVP and Coach of the Year.
After a rough start to the playoffs, Nurse has flipped the narrative and proven his coaching prowess beyond any doubt. Fred VanVleet has bounced back from a horrid shooting stretch and become one of Toronto’s most irreplaceable players in the final two rounds. Kawhi Leonard has vindicated Masai Ujiri’s decision to trade a fan favourite last summer, while Marc Gasol has done the same as a midseason acquisition.
It’s all added up to an incredible achievement: A 3-1 lead in the franchise’s first-ever NBA Finals.
But these Raptors know that they aren’t finished their work.
“We haven’t done anything yet,” Kyle Lowry said after Toronto’s resounding Game 4 victory in Oakland.
Fans can celebrate however they’d like, with the caveat that a blown 3-1 lead would result in the ultimate ridicule. The players themselves won’t celebrate yet, though.
“We’re all happy but we’re not yet satisfied,” Marc Gasol said.
Have you ever been asked to describe yourself in just three words? Try that for this Raptors team.
The easy answer is “really, really good” but that describes every championship-caliber team in sports. What are the qualities that make these Raptors special?
Answer: Resilient. Focused. Tough.
Resiliency
It’s about the chances to fold. Down 1-2 to Philadelphia and getting embarrassed by a Joel Embiid windmill dunk. Down 0-2 to Milwaukee and getting written off by just about everyone, from experts to hot take artists to their own fans (my bad!).
The Warriors are great at breaking your spirit. They suck the life out of you, whether it’s with suffocating defense or backbreaking three-point shooting. They go on monstrous runs and never look back. Golden State has shown that ability even without Kevin Durant, making huge comebacks in Game 6 in Houston and Games 2 through 4 against Portland. The Warriors were 31-1 in their last 32 games with Steph Curry and without Durant.
However, these Raptors wouldn’t allow Golden State to roll through them. In Game 1, Toronto grabbed an early lead and held tight. In Game 2, the Raptors bounced back from one of Golden State’s signature runs (20-0!) and almost won. In Game 3, they jumped ahead and never looked back. And in Game 4, they took an early punch, hung around until halftime, and punched right back.
It’s nothing new for this team. They went through one of the hardest possible paths to the title, facing three of the five best teams in the league (Toronto and Houston being the other two). It’s had all kinds of twists and turns along the way, but the Raptors remained poised at every stop.
Focus
People take after their leaders, and as cliché as it sounds, Leonard is the definition of strictly business. He said after Game 4 that it’s “not really” harder to stay in the moment when you’re one win away from an NBA title. He plays with a calm that mirrors his words, particularly on the road, when playoff crowds can seem overwhelming. Leonard just plays his game, unfazed by any outside factors.
Leonard’s poise has carried over to the rest of the Raptors, who also deserve credit for their focus during the Finals. There’s Lowry, who’s controlled the tempo of these Finals games and played well in all three wins. There’s Gasol, slow and steady, seeing the floor and doing whatever the team asks from him. There’s VanVleet, calmly sinking three-pointers while chasing Curry around at the other end of the floor.
These Raptors have an unusual blend: They can play fast without rushing. They can play with energy without getting too wild. Pascal Siakam and Serge Ibaka, the only key players who really stray towards the latter, have been excellent in the Finals.
Siakam owned Game 1, while Ibaka put up playoff-highs of six blocks in Game 3 and 20 points in Game 4. Everyone else – particularly Lowry, VanVleet, Leonard, and Gasol – has such a high basketball IQ that their decision-making is rarely in question.
The Raptors talk the talk about staying locked in, always focusing on their end goal.
More importantly, though, they back it up on the court. The calm they play with has guided them through adverse situations so many times over this two-month journey. They’ve been in the trenches together, they’ve trusted each other to dig their way out, and they’ve come out better than ever.
Mental and physical toughness
Clichés such as “killer instinct,” “mental toughness,” and “who wants it more” are often overused and overstated. Everyone in the NBA Finals obviously wants to win the championship.
But the Raptors have just fought through so much, both mentally and physically, perhaps because they’ve been forced to. Lowry is playing through a thumb injury that’ll need surgery this offseason. VanVleet has a hand injury, according to ESPN’s Doris Burke on the Lowe Post podcast. Siakam seemed close to missing games in the Philadelphia series due to a calf injury. Leonard has played through numerous ailments throughout this playoff run, never making excuses.
Of course, the Warriors have dealt with plenty of injuries themselves, and it’s clear that Kevin Durant wouldn’t be sitting out games unless he was seriously hurt. Players shouldn’t be pushed to risk their health by playing through injury. And to their credit, multiple Golden State players have played at less than 100-percent. The Raptors aren’t the only team grinding it out.
With all that said, Toronto’s grit has been impressive to watch. They’ve had some flat-out gutty performances – that’s where the mental toughness has shown.
A Game 4 win in Philadelphia, with only six men playing more than seven minutes and Siakam playing hurt. A Game 3 victory against Milwaukee in double overtime, with Lowry and Norman Powell fouling out in regulation and Leonard hobbling along. A Game 5 win in Milwaukee, handing the Bucks their third straight loss for the first time all season despite trailing by 14 early on.
Focus is certainly a part of that mental toughness. Again, they take after Leonard, the player who calmly drilled a massive step-back over Embiid in that Game 4 in Philly. The player who got multiple steals and a huge dunk in the overtime periods despite being exhausted after 50+ minutes of game time. The player who made several brilliant passes on his way to a career-high in assists against the Bucks in Game 5, despite playmaking being his only apparent flaw.
The Finals have been more of the same. Every lead feels tenuous against Golden State, but the Raptors have trusted what they’ve built all season long. The role players – a title that undersells the excellence of Lowry, Siakam, and Gasol – have trusted Leonard, and he’s trusted them. They’ve looked more comfortable offensively than they did in either of the last two rounds.
Toronto has found its identity as a defensive juggernaut that mixes ball movement with Leonard’s individual brilliance. And the Raptors have won three out of the first four games of the NBA Finals, essentially outplaying the Warriors for all but the third quarter of Game 2.
Embrace the moment
This Raptors team is hungry. They smell blood. A championship is theirs for the taking, and they’re going to take it. There should be no more fatalism and paranoid caution with your optimism, Raptors fans. Believe it right now. Let the players stay focused, as they always have.
Meanwhile, as Leonard said two weeks ago, “Enjoy the moment and embrace it.” Enjoy the final days of this ride and embrace this team’s opportunity to win its first-ever NBA championship. It’s about damn time.