It’s been another season to remember
Very few letdowns since team received their championship rings
It feels like about 130 years ago, that Tuesday night in October when they raised a banner to the Scotiabank Arena rafters and the Raptors got their gargantuan rings in a memory-filled celebration of a championship season.
They will put a lid on the longest, weirdest season in franchise history Friday afternoon on the NBA’s 22-team campus in Orlando when Toronto faces the Denver Nuggets. It has been a wild ride since that openingnight overtime victory over New Orleans and many a thing happened.
A global pandemic and a constant reminder of the social injustices of our times have rightfully clouded the memories of Raptors fans. So here is a reminder of a few things that happened, good and bad, since the season began back in olden times.
> History: When the Raptors beat Oklahoma City on Jan. 15 behind 23 points from Norm Powell, no one knew it was the start of a historic run.
Toronto wouldn’t lose again until Feb. 10 in Brooklyn, the day before the all-star break began. The 15 straight wins they rattled off was the longest winning streak in franchise history and the high-water mark of the season.
“They play with a sense of urgency and have a great identity about them,” said Minnesota coach Ryan Saunders, whose team was the 15th opponent in the streak.
> That NOLA voodoo: Trips to New Orleans can be fun, it’s a great city of exquisite dining and great people watching and it turned into one of the worst journeys of the season for the Raptors.
They may have beaten the Pelicans 122-104 that Friday night in November, but it started a parade to the injured list that lasted the entire season. Toronto lost both Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka to injuries in the game that began a five-game road trip.
> From the ashes … Sure, two guys got hurt in New Orleans, but it set the tone for the nextman-up mentality that pervaded the season. And it set up what was, to me, the most impressive victory of the season. Two days later, facing LeBron James and Anthony Davis and a tremendous Lakers team, Toronto snapped a seven-game Lakers winning streak with breakout games from Chris Boucher (16 points) and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (10).
> Careful what you wish for: For time immemorial, so many Raptors fans pined for a Christmas Day home game as if it was the greatest gift Santa could bestow on the franchise. May as well have gotten a lump o’ coal.
Remember? Noon, Dec. 25, so much anticipation, so much let down as Boston drubbed Toronto, 118-102, and air went out of the celebration about the middle of the second quarter.
> Redemption time: The Raptors lost 101-99 to Portland on Jan. 7 and rookie Terence Davis played about eight desultory minutes. “It was probably five to many.” Nurse said. Point. The Raptors won 112-110 in Charlotte on Jan. 8 and Davis made the first start of his career, scoring 23 points and adding 11 rebounds. “I can play a little bit,” Davis said. Counterpoint. The undrafted Davis is the only Raptor to have appeared in every game this season.
> A day to remember: Remember the best quarter? That’d be the 47 points the Raptors hung on the Dallas Mavericks on Dec. 22 as they came back from a 30-point deficit to win.
It was the single greatest rally in franchise history, the best in the NBA since 2009. Kyle Lowry had 20 of his 31 points in that fourth as fans and media who checked out when Toronto trailed 85-55 missed something special.
> Motown revenge: Raptors road games in Detroit are pretty much like Raptors home games in Toronto. The sellout crowd is decidedly pro-Toronto and it’s been a phenomenon for years.
It caught up to the Raptors on Jan. 31 when, despite a 112-99 win, Marc Gasol, Norm Powell and Pascal Siakam were all injured.
> Best ever: The Raptors are going to finish the season with the best winning percentage in franchise history, better than even the 2018-19 championship season. Maybe it’s because they’ll play 10 fewer games than usual, maybe it’s because they’re really good.
And it’s somehow fitting that the win that clinched it came Wednesday when an unlikely fivesome of Stanley Johnson, Dewan Hernandez, Paul Watson, Malcolm Miller and Mat Thomas finished off a comefrom-behind win over Philadelphia.
It was the first time that group had played together in an NBA game.
> A constant theme: If there’s one thing the Raptors have dome consistently all season it’s not get too full of themselves or get too worried about what people said or expected.
They didn’t carry the burden of being defending champions, they cared not a whit about the opinions of others. It carried them to their fifth straight season of 50 wins or more and their seventh straight playoff appearance.
The outside noise was just that.