THIS TEAM STACKS UP
Coach Jerry Stackhouse and the Raptors 905 complete a dominant season with D-League title,
Central Division champions? Check.
Eastern Conference champions? Check. NBA Development League champions? You can check that box, too.
While most eyes were on the Toronto Raptors as they wrapped up their first-round playoff series in Milwaukee on Thursday, a rowdy crowd at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga revelled in the kind of fete the Air Canada Centre has yet to enjoy: the celebration of champions.
The Raptors 905 finished their enviable sophomore season with a 122 -96 rout of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in the final meeting of a threegame series.
“It’s cliche, but they really worked their butts off. I made them work their butts off but then they became accustomed to it as well,” 905 coach Jerry Stackhouse said following the game, his champagne-soaked dress shirt already discarded and replaced with a 2017 Champions T-shirt.
“We felt like we were doing things this year that other teams weren’t doing . . . to give us an edge at this time of the season. I wasn’t sure it was going to work but it did. I’m glad it did.”
It was the second victory in backto-back home games, after a disappointing Game 1 loss to the Vipers, Houston’s D-League affiliate.
Stackhouse and his players knew they couldn’t get let the pressure of the moment get to them. That’s where the work paid off.
Forward Bruno Caboclo, assigned to the team with Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet for a second consecutive game, shot 13-for-19 from the floor as part of a 31-point, 11-rebound performance. Siakam, named the most valuable player of the final, and VanVleet combined for 45 points, 18 assists and 12 rebounds.
They’ll have to report to practice downtown on Friday, VanVleet said, but their sole focus on the night was the championship.
Like the team has done all season, he said, it bought in on Thursday night. “It’s a testament to the organization from top to bottom,” he said.
The home team got off to a thumping start, up 8-0 right out of the gate. Much of the 905’s first-quarter tally came through Caboclo, who had 14 points in the first twelve minutes while shooting 60% from the field.
The performance will give Raptors fans hope for the future; Siakam said it was the team as whole — not just the night’s three stars — that made the 905 the gold standard this year.
And it has given him as much, if not more, than he has given it.
“I think coming down here does help me just build my confidence. When you play in the NBA you play with all the big players and you can downplay yourself a lot of times.”