Since 1993, when the Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series and the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup, no Canadian-based pro sports franchise has won league championships in hockey, baseball and basketball. Until Thursday night.
The Toronto Raptors, who began their existence in 1995, won the NBA championship with a 114-110 victory over the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 of the Finals at Oakland, CA. Pascal Sickam and Kyle Lowry both scored 26 points to wrap it up for the Raptors. Kawhi Leonard, whose one-year sojourn in Canada before moving on to free agency resulted in a title, was named the MVP for the playoffs.
The Warriors were in their fifth consecutive Finals, going for their third straight championship. This was not their best team, though Stephen Curry almost pulled a title out of his hat with his late-game heroics. But "Strength In Numbers", their head-scratching slogan, became a misnomer when two of their stars went down to injuries. Kevin Durant, who was not able to play for most of the playoffs, made an ill-advised comeback in Game 5 at Toronto, suffering an Achilles injury. Klay Thompson tore his ACL in Game 6, which sealed the Warriors' fate. Both are not expected to play next season.
The fact that Leonard, Durant and Thompson are all going to be free agents, and whose fates might determine how much they're worth to whichever team they sign with, can't be overstated.
The Raptors got this far by going through the Eastern Conference playoffs, leaving the Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks (in that order) in their wake. The Warriors defeated the Los Angeles Clippers, Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers to represent the Western Conference.
The Raptors' TV ratings went through the roof in Canada, but that didn't help ABC, which couldn't count Toronto into their numbers. Neither did the lack of LeBron James (who played for the Los Angeles Lakers this past season), or the continued presence of the Warriors in the championship series. But it did go six games, so ABC got decent ratings for that.
The normally reserved Canadians, led by unofficial head cheerleader Drake (who has touched more people than presidential candidate Joe Biden these days), have gone nuts over the success of the Raptors. Why, the team might even get a photo-op with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
"We The North" indeed. It's time for the Maple Leafs to step up. They haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1967.
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