04/20/24
June 14, 2019
Toronto Raptors Win NBA Championship: The Toronto Raptors are NBA champions for the first time, defeating the Golden State Warriors 114-110 in Game 6 to win the series and deny the Warriors a third straight championship. This game was the 2,070th and last at Oracle for the Warriors, who move from Oakland to San Francisco next season.
posted by rcade to basketball at 12:09 AM - 15 comments
10 of the 13 NBA and NHL 2019 finals games were won by the road team.
Raptors road title win = impressive feat, fans get to roam the downtown and cheer on the team, no added crush of out of town folks in the metro area, fans get to greet the team at the airport when they return, then have a victory parade to boot.
Plus you get to see fans of the opposing team silenced on live TV. A NBA road title win might actually be preferable.
And your home arena didn't have to suffer the usual title win celebration impact. The only thing you miss is the euphoria directly experienced by a few thousand ticketholders if it were a home game, and they're a small percentage of the fan base.
However, if I were a hockey fan, I'd want to see my team win the Cup at home. With all that tradition, the pride of seeing the trophy presented and skated around on home ice, etc.
posted by beaverboard at 07:18 AM on June 14, 2019
And also a huzzah to our friends up there in Canada that are Raptors fans. Hope you had fun last night!
posted by NoMich at 07:50 AM on June 14, 2019
And also a huzzah to our friends up there in Canada that are Raptors fans. Hope you had fun last night!
Party's still on. I suspect through the weekend, parade is on Monday. ;-)
posted by tommybiden at 09:32 AM on June 14, 2019
I don't expect to hear from grum before then
posted by NoMich at 04:42 PM on June 14, 2019
Nothing about Drake? At all? Where's our sense of perspective?
posted by beaverboard at 07:14 PM on June 14, 2019
I'm here.
(As a man in his late 40s and a father, there really isn't much celebration I can do during the week. I also live too far from Toronto to go to the parade on Monday, but I work from home that day so I'll have it on TV for sure.)
It's quite amazing. To give you an idea of what it is like to be a Toronto sports fan and to have lived through so much close-but-no-cigar moments (Leafs, Raptors, Blue Jays, even TFC once)...
When there was 0.9 seconds on the clock, the Raptors were up by 1, and Kawhi Leonard (career 83.5% FT shooter in the playoffs) is lining up to take a technical foul shot, and Toronto was going to get the ball back to inbound it, I was STILL not ready to start celebrating.
All I could do was run through the minuscule possibilities of it going horribly wrong.
EVEN when he sunk that free throw (2 point lead) and then was fouled, I STILL wasn't ready to jump around.
It wasn't until he sunk both of the free throws (4 point lead, 0.9 second left) that I started celebrating. Even then I watched the screen to see the inbound play...
I stayed up until 2:30am going over every video/article of post-game celebrations, interviews, fan reactions, pundit responses (suck it hard, Skip Bayless!)...I didn't want to go to sleep.
There are lots of little videos that made me giggle with glee to watch.
Canadian Parliament Finally Agrees On Something
VanVleet's Last Question (Jump to 366 seconds in...)
Raptors Prepares His "Kawhi Stays" Pitch
posted by grum@work at 07:15 PM on June 14, 2019
1967: Leafs Win
1993: Blue Jays Win
2019: Raptors Win
2045: Leafs Win?
(I hope it isn't a real pattern...)
posted by grum@work at 07:56 PM on June 14, 2019
The Bills will move up to Toronto and win a Super Bowl before the Leafs win a Cup
posted by NoMich at 08:12 PM on June 14, 2019
(I shouldn't tease you when you are still celebrating a championship. Also, get away from the internet and celebrate some more.)
posted by NoMich at 08:13 PM on June 14, 2019
No rest for the weary: Canada vs. NZ today at the World Cup for a chance to clinch a spot in the next round.
posted by beaverboard at 07:44 AM on June 15, 2019
MLSE (Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment) has had a pretty good run with most of their clubs the past few years:
Raptors 2019
Marlies 2018
Argonauts 2017
Raptors 905 2017
Toronto FC 2017
As beaverboard mentioned up-thread: Maple Leafs: You On The Clock!
posted by tommybiden at 11:53 AM on June 15, 2019
You want to see Toronto's reaction summed up in just one gif?
posted by grum@work at 02:23 PM on June 15, 2019
Van Vleet was enormous in that series.
posted by cixelsyd at 09:56 PM on June 16, 2019
I had a very pleasant sports night tonight. I got to see two storied minor league teams play: the Toledo Mud Hens v. the Durham Bulls on a very beautiful night. Then I got home in time to see the Raptors win their first title. Huzzah to sports!