As diverse group of fans as you’ll ever see.
— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) May 26, 2019
Singing O Canada together.
This is Toronto. #WeTheNorth @cbcsports @CBCToronto pic.twitter.com/NjCclBhEYL
The Toronto Raptors current 4-game playoff winning streak was sparked by bench contributions. The Raptors bench outscored the Milwaukee Bucks bench 48-23 in Game 4. Fred VanVleet had 7-9 from beyond the 3-point arc in Game 5.
If you are looking for a commonality for why Fred VanVleet suddenly started sinking 3s in the last 3 playoff games, look to a new beginning. VanVleet's girlfriend gave birth to a baby boy in between Game 3 and Game 4.
VanVleet has been able to spend more time with his new baby from Sunday to Thursday with the luxury of remaining in Toronto all week.
The TNT announcers noted the contrast with the Raptors when before Game 3, Toronto Coach Nick Nurse moved Kawhi Leonard to cover Giannis Antetokounmpo, aka Greek Freak. The overall team defence improved as well. Antetokounmpo didn't have the offence impact the team previously had and his teammates struggled to make up the difference.
The Milwaukee series could have been a brotherly battle with Marc Gasol (Toronto) and Pau Gasol (Milwaukee). The older brother was out injured and couldn't suit up for the Bucks.
NBA Finals home-court advantage is determined by regular season record: The Toronto Raptors finished 58-24, 2 games behind Milwaukee. Golden State was the top team in the West at 57-25.
The Raptors have had a rougher road to the finals. Toronto has lost 6 playoff games while Golden State has only lost 4 games. The Raptors had that disadvantage in the Milwaukee series and that worked out fine.
Toronto gained some endurance with a double OT win in Game 3. The Dubs are 1-1 in overtime in the playoffs, both in the first OT.
Kevin Durant will make the trip to Toronto but we don't know when he will play for Golden State. Durant injured his right calf in Game 5 of the second-round Houston series on May 8. DeMarcus Cousins has also been injured. The Dubs have plenty of talent remaining, including Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala.
Curry has a Toronto connection. His father Dell played for the Toronto Raptors from 1999-2002.
This will be the final games at what is now known as Oracle Arena in Oakland. The team is scheduled to start playing at the new Chase Center in San Francisco just south of the San Francisco Giants ballpark. Golden State has even played at the Cow Palace in San Francisco and a year in San Jose while arena renovations were made in Oakland. The Oakland arena was also the home of the NHL California Golden Seals.
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The DeMar DeRozan deal with San Antonio brought Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. Jonas Valanciunas was well loved but traded with C.J. Miles and Delon Wright to Memphis for Marc Gasol at the trade deadline.
Serge Ibaka also came through a trade in 2017. Kyle Lowry (7 years) and Norman Powell (4 years) even came through long-ago trades. Lowry is the only Raptor who was in Toronto when team president Masai Ujiri took over.
The team has 2 draft picks on the roster: Pascal Siakam (2016, 27th overall) and OG Anunoby (2017, 23rd overall). Free agents include VanVleet, Chris Boucher, Jeremy Lin, Jodie Meeks, Malcolm Miller, Patrick McCaw, and Eric Moreland.
The lasting image of Drake in the last series was the neck massage of Toronto Coach Nick Nurse. You saw how he got into the head of Milwaukee fans in the last series. Drake, who has been the Toronto Raptors global ambassador since 2013, has a world stage with the NBA Finals. ESPN/ABC may not know that many Canadian hip-hop artists but they do know Drake.
Milwaukee radio station WXSS 103.7 got some cheap publicity by pulling Drake from their playlist during the Milwaukee-Toronto series. The music fans were likely glad to have Drake back on the airwaves even though the Bucks lost the series.
Toronto Raptors move on to Philadelphia in 2019 NBA playoffs second round
0 arrests. Toronto Raptors fans certainly had a jubilant celebration on the streets of Toronto after the Game 6 win, especially in and around Jurassic Park. Toronto police say it's "impressive" that there were no arrests. The police were there to preserve order and that is what happened.
This isn't to say that Canadians are always polite. Just that with a similar event in smaller U.S. cities, there would have been plenty of arrests. Toronto, one of the 5 biggest cities in North America, had a clean celebration.
| Opponent | Rogers Sportsnet | TSN |
| Orlando | 1-1 (via Sportsnet One) | 3-0 |
| Philadelphia | 3-1 (1-1 on Sportsnet One) | 1-2 (1-0 on CTV) |
| Milwaukee | 2-1 | 2-1 |
| Golden State | Games 1, 3, 5, 7 | Games 2, 4, 6 |
Rogers Sportsnet and TSN split the Toronto Raptors playoff telecasts. Rogers had the scheduled advantage against Philadelphia and Golden State while TSN had the scheduled advantage against Orlando and Milwaukee.
Each network has carried 9 playoff games with a 6-3 record for the Raptors.
There was a temptation for Rogers and Bell Media to share their signals on their over-the-air networks Citytv and CTV, respectively. CTV sim subbed Game 4 of the Philadelphia series since ABC also carried the game. The only way to watch the local feed is on cable in Canada.
CTV2 will simsub the ABC coverage. Unlike CTV, CTV2 has limited over-the-air availability. CTV2 is available over-the-air in Ontario and British Columbia:
Ontario: Toronto (Barrie); Ottawa (Pembroke); London; Windsor
British Columbia: Victoria; Dawson Creek; Terrace
CTV2 has a cable-only signal in Alberta and Nova Scotia (Halifax). My impression is that you can only simsub in markets where the station is over the air. Citytv has similar holes in its over-the-air coverage.
This is a bit of a surprise in that the summer schedule has kicked in and CTV could certainly move programming around for 2 (possibly 3) games. Bell Media could have moved CTV shows to CTV2 and cover more ground with the Raptors. But this may also be why CTV never carries the Grey Cup.
ESPN produces the content on ABC for the NBA. The Toronto Raptors coverage in the United States has been mostly good. ESPN has a definite bias toward Golden State, especially knowing the team after 5 consecutive years in the NBA Finals (we are looking at you, Stephen A. Smith). A lot of that ESPN programming runs on TSN in Canada.
There were some ESPN mishaps in 2016. Hopefully Brian Windhorst, if he is back in Toronto, will have learned something about Canada since 2016.
The game telecasts have been much better. We do hope the network has done its research on the (to them) relatively unknown Toronto Raptors.
John Saunders would have been able to help them. The pride of Canada, Saunders worked on the ESPN and ABC coverage on play-by-play in 2002-2004 and 2007 and was the studio host from 2004-2006. Saunders did television play-by-play for the Toronto Raptors from the team's inception in 1995 through 2001.
Saunders passed away in 2016 at the relatively young age of 61.
Canoe Landing Park is just west of Scotiabank Arena. The city of Toronto painted a huge Raptors logo in the park just before Game 2 of the Milwaukee series.
2019 Toronto Raptors NBA playoffs scoreboard
2019 Toronto Raptors NBA playoffs preview
CanadianCrossing.com NBA coverage
Thursday is an intriguing sports day in the city of Toronto. The Blue Jays are traveling on a highly strange road trip from Tampa to Denver. The Toronto Argonauts had their only home CFL preseason game scheduled for 11 am against the Montréal Alouettes. The morning game is up at Varsity Stadium. So Toronto fans can catch the Argos in the midday and then wait in line to be part of the crowd at Jurassic Park.
The NBA was gracious in scheduling Games 3 and 4 in Toronto on either side of Victoria Day. That might have been coincidental. Still, the scheduling worked out well around a Canadian holiday.
Toronto Raptors playoffs history
| 2019 | Milwaukee | 4-2 |
| 2019 | Philadelphia | 4-3 |
| 2019 | Orlando | 4-1 |
| 2018 | Cleveland | 0-4 |
| 2018 | Washington | 4-2 |
| 2017 | Cleveland | 0-4 |
| 2017 | Milwaukee | 4-2 |
| 2016 | Cleveland | 2-4 |
| 2016 | Miami | 4-3 |
| 2016 | Indiana | 4-3 |
| 2015 | Washington | 0-4 |
| 2014 | Brooklyn | 3-4 |
| 2008 | Orlando | 1-4 |
| 2007 | New Jersey | 2-4 |
| 2002 | Detroit | 2-3 |
| 2001 | Philadelphia | 3-4 |
| 2001 | New York | 3-2 |
| 2000 | New York | 0-3 |
Twitter capture: @Devin_Heroux
photos credit: NBA/Rogers Sportsnet; NBA/TNT; CBC News
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