TOP 10 RAPTORS GAMES OVER THE PAST DECADE
Tuesday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers seems like a fitting way to end the decade for the defending NBA champions. After all, Toronto and Cleveland faced off three straight years in the playoffs, including in the conference finals the year Lebron James finally brought a title to Ohio. It’s a good time to look back on the 10 best Raptors games of the decade.
In order of when they happened, here are the 10 that stood out the most:
1 Feb. 14, 2012:
The earliest game to make the cut. Who can forget the night Linsanity came to town as a fairy tale story came to life? Jeremy Lin’s incredible, unexpected run with the New York Knicks culminated with the 23-year-old nailing a stunning three-pointer with 0.5 seconds remaining. How big was the shot? How many times have you seen hundreds of Toronto fans standing and cheering after the home team was defeated? It was NBA theatre at its finest.
2 March 22, 2014:
Kevin Durant scored 51 points against Toronto more recently than this one, but you can’t top the dramatics of KD’S first outburst against the Raptors. Russell Westbrook had limped off, the game went to not one, but two overtime periods, and Durant got to 51 points by rising up to sink a three-pointer with 1.7 seconds remaining. Brilliance.
3 May 4, 2014:
The Raptors were supposed to tank after trading Rudy Gay and nearly dealing Kyle Lowry. Instead, they inexplicably returned to the playoffs after a long absence and took a 3-2 series lead against veteran-laden Brooklyn. Alas, the group fell short, when Lowry’s layup attempt was blocked, but the building has arguably never been louder than it was late in Game 7 against the Nets. This was the start of everything that would transpire the rest of the decade.
4 Jan. 1 2018:
Vince Carter and Terrence Ross were finally knocked out of the Raptors history books when Demar Derozan scored a team-record 52 points against Milwaukee. Toronto rang in the new year at home in style, matching another team mark, with a 12th home win in a row, this time in overtime. Derozan had 21 points in the first quarter, one off Lowry’s Raptors record. Derozan also hit five three-pointers.
5 Jan. 5, 2019:
Two days after one of the ugliest games of the season, Kawhi Leonard’s vitriol-filled “homecoming” in San Antonio, a 125-107 loss, that featured a Demar Derozan triple-double, the Raptors went to Milwaukee and beat the NBA’S best team, with Lowry unavailable to boot. Pascal Siakam and Kawhi Leonard both scored 30 points in a preview of what was to come. Head coach Nick Nurse would later say during the playoffs that this was the game that really turned things around for the eventual champions.
6 Feb. 22, 2019:
The brightest stars in Raptors history have all returned to a cascade of boos, but Derozan’s first return was nothing like that. One of the most popular Raptors ever was showered with cheers and nothing but love. Leonard gave the Raptors a 120-117 win, overshadowing Derozan’s return in cruel fashion.
7 May 12, 2019:
The Shot, need we say more? Forget just this decade, this was likely the key player in Raptors franchise history. When Leonard headed to the corner in Game 7 of the conference semifinal against Philadelphia, launched a shot that bounced, once, twice, three and then four times, before falling through, it was immediately historic. It was the last of Leonard’s 41 points on the night.
8 May 19, 2019:
All hope seemed lost. The Shot seemed destined to become just a footnote from a great season that fell short. After losing two games in Milwaukee to start the Eastern Conference final, Toronto had led nearly throughout before blowing the lead when two Pascal Siakam free throw misses were followed by a late Khris Middleton shot to send the game to overtime. Lowry had fouled out, the Raptors could have packed it in. But both Fred Vanvleet and Marc Gasol, who had previously struggled, rebounded with stellar performances, Siakam scored 26 and Leonard again put the team on his back. It took double-overtime, but the Raptors prevailed and the Bucks never got back into the series.
9 June 13, 2019:
They finally did it! The Raptors brought the NBA title to Canada for the first time by holding off the Golden State Warriors 114-110 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. After dropping Game 5 at home, the Raptors had to go back to Oakland to end the Warriors dynasty. Lowry delivered, with 26 points, Siakam matched it and Vanvleet stepped up too as the Raptors did it by committee. Leonard was named Finals MVP following his final game as a Raptor.
10 Dec. 22, 2019:
Just under the wire we got a franchise-record 30-point comeback against the Dallas Mavericks. Toronto, missing a number of key players, looked completely out of it, before mounting the biggest rally the league had seen in over a decade. Lowry scored 20 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter. You had to see it to believe it.