Raptors can end Canada’s title drought tonight

Opinion

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This article was published 09/06/2019 (1929 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — They are on the cusp of history, these Toronto Raptors, with a truly golden opportunity staring them in the face. The spotlight is huge. The stakes have never been higher. And the floor is theirs.

They can slay a sporting giant and end a modern-day dynasty. They can give a growing legion of fans from coast to coast — from longtime supporters to more recent bandwagon additions — an iconic moment to remember forever. They can snap a 26-year major title drought in this country. And they can bring a sport already surging in popularity to even greater heights in Canada.

And they have three shots to do it, beginning tonight when millions of people across the nation will be waiting to celebrate along with them, from crowded living rooms and basement dens to packed bars and watch parties in cities big and small.

No pressure, right?

“I just know we got to go win another game. I’ve tried to do that all through the playoffs, just look at the next game and go win it. I imagine everything will take care of itself from there,” Toronto coach Nick Nurse said Sunday in response to questions about the enormity of the situation.

“I think there’s a lot of basketball to be played yet. Again, we try to ignore what the score in the series is and be more concerned with making it a one-game series, if we can.”

His team leads two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors 3-1 in the best-of-seven series and can raise the Larry O’Brien trophy with one more victory. A loss would at least temporarily put the party on hold and send the series back to northern California for Game 6 on Thursday. A winner-take-all Game 7, should it come to that, would go down Sunday night back here in Hogtown.

It doesn’t take long to get a sense of the atmosphere around these parts. Forget about the calm before the storm. This is like the storm before the even bigger storm.

You see it in the streets, where the lines around Scotiabank Arena were already starting to swell, still more than 24 hours before “Jurassic Park” opens to the public. Fans are willing to go to great lengths for a shot at being part of tonight’s festivities, including camping out overnight.

You hear it pretty much everywhere you go, too. From the “Go Raptors” announcement from the flight attendant on my Air Canada flight Sunday morning to my cab driver who was positively giddy with excitement.

“It’s going to be crazy… you think they can finish it off?” he asked me. “I think they can,” I reassured him.

How about the scene inside Rogers Centre, where the most interesting thing that went down Sunday afternoon were the repeated chants of “Go Raptors Go,” as the Toronto Blue Jays were thumped 8-2 in yet another listless performance in what’s quickly becoming another lost season.

The baseball team is the last Canadian franchise to be kings of any of the four major North American sports leagues, capturing the World Series way back in 1993.

Or over at the Canadian Open in nearby Hamilton this weekend, where several of the PGA’s biggest stars, including tournament winner Rory Mcllroy, were buzzing about the crowd, which included repeated pro-Raptors chants.

Toronto’s bench boss couldn’t even escape the hype in his own elevator.

“I saw, when I got to my condo building (Saturday) night, they had a thing in the elevator, a big picture. They had a watch party in our condo building and had a little thing in the elevator, so I wouldn’t miss that,” said Nurse.

I’m sure the other tenants will understand why Nurse is unable to attend Monday night’s gathering in the block.

Rather than duck and hide from it, the Raptors appear ready to embrace the opportunity while still showing plenty of respect to their downed, but certainly not out, opponent. So far, they haven’t appeared to suffer any stage fright, including winning two straight games in hostile territory to take control of the series.

But the fourth one, as the saying goes, is always the toughest. And you can bet Steph Curry and company aren’t going to go quietly into the night.

“We didn’t do nothing yet. We haven’t done anything. We still got to get one more win. It’s the first to four. You got champions coming in here and they’re going to play their butts off and play extremely hard. For me, we still got to focus on us and take it one possession at a time,” veteran Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry said Sunday.

“I understand where (fans) are coming from. We want them to be excited. We want them to be happy. We want them to be energetic. But we still got work to do.”

Fortunately, the Raptors have the epitome of calm, cool and collected setting the tone. That would be Leonard, the soft-spoken superstar who seems to be willing this team to the promised land.

It’s a good lesson for teams who think a leader always needs to be the loudest guy in the room, the “rah-rah” type who screams and shouts and pounds his fist. Leonard does none of that, doing virtually all of his talking with his play, which always seems to rise to even the biggest occasions. Heck, it’s a pretty good lesson for life in general.

“Just stay in the same routine and just focus what’s in front of me. Obviously, human beings, we do think in the future. Been thinking in the future since the beginning of the season, just trying to get to this point. You just got to stay current and stay in your routine, be patient and not rush anything,” Leonard said Sunday as he met the media and was asked about his current mindset.

It was brought up Sunday how Leonard and his teammates walked off the court Friday night in Oakland, the biggest victory of their season in hand, looking absolutely stoic, almost as if they had lost. There was no over-the-top celebration, but rather a business-as-usual type approach that was very noticeable.

Once again, that was Leonard showing the way.

“I think it’s just we’re focused. We know that it doesn’t mean anything until someone has four wins. You never know what could happen and you got to take advantage of it and don’t get overly hyped and excited. Still a great basketball team on the other side. I think that was our mindset. We had a goal going out there, and we accomplished it. Now in a possible three games, we have to win one,” said Leonard.

“I think we have been embracing it this whole time. Just enjoying the support and the energy that they’re bringing to the team. With that being said, they help us stay focused in the moment. You just got to be patient. Don’t rush anything. Stay focused on what we’re doing. Just take it a minute at a time.”

One more Raptors win and the clock will officially strike for Golden State — while the party north of the border will just be getting started.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg