Twenty-four years, 228 players, nine head coaches, 947 wins and a national love affair later, the Toronto Raptors are finally 2019 NBA champions. The Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors 114-110 in Game 6 to capture the country's first NBA crown. Now the Raptors and their fans can forget the franchise's futile history. After another pitiful post-season Masai Ujiri, president of basketball operations had seen enough. He was quick to make some sweeping changes as he declared CHAMPIONSHIP OR BUST.
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Here we go again. Despite all of Toronto's recent success, the team continually struggled with Game 1, even when handed home-court advantage. This year was supposed to be different, but ex-Raptor D.J. Augustin nailed a dagger three-pointer to put the Raptors down 1-0 … again. That would be the extent of the Magic's magic, however, as the Raptors won the next four games handily. "It took one punch in the gut from the Orlando Magic to understand we'd better start playing a lot harder," Nurse would say later. "I think we came out in Game 2 and you saw a totally different basketball team." That response was the first of many times the Raptors showed off their experience and mettle in dealing with playoff adversity.