Raptors' playoff victory a long time coming for Toronto
Toronto is not a truly cursed sports city. As bad as things may seem sometimes, it is not Cleveland. It is not Buffalo. Yet the last two decades have been difficult, and a city in love with narratives about itself has often fallen into perpetual pity parties borne of mediocrity.
Things appear to be changing. With one swing and flip last October, Jose Bautista incinerated a narrative - not to mention a controversy created 15 minutes earlier when the Texas Rangers scored the lead run in a deciding ALDS playoff game when a ball thrown back to the pitcher struck a bat.
On Saturday, the Toronto Maple Leafs - the vanguard of sports failure in the city - registered one of its most significant victories in 49 years when it won the NHL Draft Lottery.
On Sunday, things got real. The Toronto Raptors won a postseason series for the first time since 2001. The 89-84 Game 7 victory over the Indiana Pacers wasn't pretty. It came on the back of a player who grew up in Los Angeles idolizing Kobe Bryant, and who went 10-for-32 from the floor. Looking closer, DeMar DeRozan's 30-point night came shooting 5-of-23 after the first quarter.
Yet with the team's MVP, Kyle Lowry, hurting all series with an elbow injury, the Raptors made the choice to ride DeRozan, the iso-heavy baller bound for a max contract this summer.
Then a funny thing happened with under 20 seconds left in the game. DeRozan got away with an obvious shove in the back of the Pacers' Ian Mahinmi. He also escaped with a clear travel. It was the sort of non-call that many Raptors fans, accustomed to an array of conspiracy theories and perceived injustices, would have expected to happen to them.
Except it didn't.
To understand the odd world that a Raptors fan inhabits, one must start with the inferiority complex many Canadians possess. That's why even after the brilliant marketing stroke of bringing Drake aboard in a promotional capacity, much of the team's fandom employs a defensive, underdog stance, whether fighting the perceived indifference of U.S. television executives or local puck-heads who refuse to turn their attention from the ice. And that's before the all-time winning percentage of .438.
So a playoff win is huge. Sunday marked the first time the franchise has emerged victorious from a seven-game series. The last time they were in one, Vince Carter missed the final shot hours after getting off the owner's private jet from his college graduation.
That Raptors squad was supposed to be on the verge of Eastern Conference dominance. The success of this one came about basically by accident. Raptors fans know disappointment, and both short- and long-term questions still exist.
While Toronto went 3-1 against their next opponent in the Miami Heat this season, they were just extended to seven games by an inferior team. Lowry looks injured, and the team is riding DeRozan's mostly discredited brand of basketball.
But winning must be savored, even briefly. And Sunday night was a long time coming for the Raptors.