Toronto Raptors: The North Has Arrived
After years of being ignored and overlooked, the Toronto Raptors have finally arrived as a legitimate contender in the Eastern Conference.
This has been years in the making for the Toronto Raptors.
For years, they were a team that was only recognized for their immense entertainment value with the high-flying acrobatics of Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady.
After that, they went through a period where they weren’t really recognized at all — save for a cameo in the second greatest single-game scoring performance in league history.
Sure, stars like Carter and Chris Bosh have graced the purple and red, but neither was able to ever build the team up north into a force to be reckoned with and both ended up bolting for stateside contenders.
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Even in recent years, when the Raptors have been the most solid and formidable they ever have, they were still seen as an easy first-round out; a team that, while possessing the talent, didn’t have the experience or the fire to compete with seasoned contenders.
On Sunday afternoon, the Raptors made a stern statement that the days of the team up north being a doormat or a pushover are over.
Let’s be honest: you didn’t think they were going to beat the Heat.
Sure, they fought hard and showed immense cohesiveness and competitiveness at times and even took the series to seven games — but when they blew that opportunity to close Miami out in six, most of us wrote them off.
There was no way they would beat such an experienced team in a Game 7. Not with their history in those games. Not with the way Dwyane Wade had been playing in crunch moments.
But there they were, proving us wrong.
Despite an awfully up-and-down series, the Raptors put together arguably their greatest team performance of the season in a dominant 116-89 win over the Heat to advance to their first Eastern Conference Finals in franchise history.
Along the way, they’ve overcome a lot of obstacles that were once believed to be far too difficult for the Team Up North.
They’ve withstood the dominant all-around performance of Paul George and the magnificent late-game heroics of a resurgent Wade. Stars Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan overcame their troubling postseason woes to put up a combined 63 points in the deciding Game 7.
Sure, they lost stud center Jonas Valanciunas, but backup Bismack Biyombo has been a revelation, averaging a double-double of 11.0 points and 12.0 rebounds per game in four starts, topped off by a 17-point, 16-board performance Sunday.
Essentially, the Raptors have been pushed to the brink in two consecutive series by two solid teams and have come out on top. The team once thought to be a laughing stock has proved its meddle and come of age before our very eyes.
Will they be able to beat the red-hot Cleveland Cavaliers? That remains to be seen. However, one thing is certain: the Raptors are no longer just a team of dunk contest champions or a cameo in an 81-point game.
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They are The North and they have arrived as forces to be reckoned with in the Eastern Conference.