Top five Toronto Raptors games to watch while quarantined

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Any big game in last years championship run

Realistically, there could be four or five games from last year’s postseason run that should be on this list. But, considering you can watch any of those games at some point over the next couple weeks, all games from the 2019 playoffs are off the board. (Sorry to all you non-Canadian Raps fans)

Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers, Game 3 against the Milwaukee Bucks, Games 1 and 6 in the NBA Finals are all games you should watch over and over again regardless.

The Raptors first-ever game

The only reason this game is getting any sort of credit is because of its historical relevance being the first time pro basketball was hosted by a team in Toronto. Adding to that, they actually won this game – a rare occurrence for that ‘95 team.

It’s cool to watch how different things were in 1995 around the NBA and how far the Raptors have come from that point. At the time, they were playing in the “Skydome” (now Rogers Centre) with some excitement around them only because they were a new team. Now they’re the reigning NBA champs and are close to contending for the most important sports team in the country.

Kobe Bryant’s 81

This isn’t necessarily a great Raptors game per se, but it’s one of the historic games in NBA history. Watching anyone put up anywhere near 80 points in a single professional basketball game is something you need to see whether you like the sport or not.

It’s truly one of the most impressive acts of scoring across any sport. It was a display of what Kobe really was. He clawed the Los Angeles Lakers back into a game they were down by more than 15 and did so by showing his nearly unmatched scoring ability.

The only reason this game doesn’t make the list is two-fold – a) it wasn’t a Raptors performance and b) it was shown relatively recently in the wake of Kobe’s unfortunate passing.