For the first time in franchise history, the Toronto Raptors are going to the NBA Finals, defeating the Milwaukee Bucks 100-94 on Saturday night to win the Eastern Conference title. Kawhi Leonard was sensational with 27 points, 17 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. It was one of those performances that all-time legends have.
The Raptors' first season was in the 1995-96 season, finishing 21-61. The one bright spot in that season was their 109-108 victory on March 24 over the Chicago Bulls, who would go on to finish the season 72-10 and win their fourth NBA championship. Damon Stoudamire led the way for the Raptors that night with 30 points while Michael Jordan had 36 points for the Bulls (click here to watch the highlights). What's rather ironic in all of this is that their NBA Finals opponent Golden State Warriors went on to have the best regular season record in NBA history (73-9) in the 2015-16 season in part because of that victory. As we all know, that Warriors team would later fall to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.
After indirectly helping the Warriors make history in 2016, the Raptors are out to make history for themselves in the 2019 NBA Finals. After years and years of choking and not getting over the hump, the Raptors finally have a championship caliber team and home court advantage in the NBA Finals. Their turnaround has been really fun to watch and while Kawhi Leonard deserves a lot of the credit, it's really been a complete team effort from president Masai Ujiri to head coach Nick Nurse to Kyle Lowry to undrafted guard Fred VanVleet.
Even though I already got into NBA Finals predictions in my most recent Wednesday Windmill piece, I don't want to do that here. I just want to congratulate the Raptors on finally reaching their first NBA Finals in franchise history. This is a big moment for them and tonight I want to focus all of my attention on this monumental accomplishment. We can talk more about the Warriors next week.
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