September 8, 2023 • 31 mins
It iiiiiis Sportsfeld Storytime. This month, we are looking back to the Raptors' first trip to the Conference Finals. The 2015-16 Raptors won 56 games, hosted the NBA All-Star Game, then survived two Game 7's en route to facing one of the best teams of the modern era in the Eastern Conference Final. In episode 3, the guys dig in to the series against the Cavs, where the Raptors shake off two tough losses to bounce back an even the series, behind some narrative-busting performances from Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, and The Bismack Biyombo Series. It was a clean block!!!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
It's the Toronto Raptors facing the ClevelandCavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. As
we get set for Game one,presented by Verizon System seventh Series. A
sellout crowd here at the Quicken LoansArena last night, a surprise in Oaklands,
Oklahoma City. So came one ofthe Western Conference Finals in Toronto,
(00:26):
off the uppsite on the road tonightand as we mentioned, the Raptors seven
games to defeat Indiana, seven gamesto defeat Miami, and here they aspen
all Cleveland through the first two games. Not only this started lineup for Toronto
Lou but his bench has also deliveredin a big way. They have been
dominant, still undefeated, same scriptdraft the playoffs, a bad game here
(00:47):
or there, and when they needto win, they get it, and
boy did they need a win tonight. After being hammered in Cleveland, they
come back for another sellout crowd hereat the Eric Out of the Center.
The very first home Eastern Conference Finalgame was a big celebration and now a
chance to tie the series. TheYambo all over him Smith trying to get
(01:10):
off the three block five Byambo picktop up Patterson Lowry five to shoot Lowry
on the drive gets to the ramand he puts it in. James drives
kicks it out left corner for Smith. Smith Smiths fires rebound foot force still
lost, they fall on it,Chames to Irving. Irving puts up a
three that won't go Byambo comes flyingin for the rebound and is foul that
(01:36):
won't go and the astounding turnaround continues. Here of the Eastern Conference Final,
Raptors win a thriller and a seriesis tied at two games. Are oh,
read the North. Some people wereread the North channing as well,
which is their rallying crime. Theywere the two best teams in the Eastern
Conference all season long and battle forsix games here to go to go to
(02:00):
the NBA Finals. Said you wouldstep forward a navigate when you needed to
know. Why was it tonight?Of course, of all you get.
Do you hear this? Do youhear this? Unbelievable respect and must respect
to these fans, to this country. This is unbelievable. I've never been
(02:21):
a part or something like this inmy thirteen year career. Uh, this
is special, and uh they reallyappreciate what that team did. To get
back to your question, Doors i'dspts Fell. It is forts Fell.
At storytime, we are looking backto the twenty sixteen Toronto Raptors run the
(02:46):
first time in the Conference Finals,taking on Lebron James, Kevin Love,
Kyrie Irving and the superstar number oneseed Cleveland Cavaliers. The Raptors had just
closed out two straight game sevens intheir series, fending off the feisty Indianapolis
Pacers and then Kyle Lowry exploding inGame seven against the heat awaiting them.
(03:12):
It is King James, the manwho would starting with this series, really
own this team going forward. There'sLebron, It's Kyrie Irving, It's Kevin
Love. But as you mentioned before, it's also Jr. Smith and Channing
Fry, Richard Jefferson, Tristan Thompson, Matthew Delavadova, Eman Schumpert, Timmy
Famals, Gov Mo Williams, JamesJones and Dante Jones. Jake there was
(03:36):
reason, and maybe it seemed crazy, and maybe after the first two games
it seems even crazier. But cominginto this series, there was reason to
believe the Raptors would have a shot. No, there wasn't. Well,
there was the regular there was therewas one game was one game in February,
Yes where Kyle went off scored fortythree points get the winning shot over
(03:59):
Matthew Dellaba del Bo that snakes ittwo wasn't telling him that he's a man
(04:25):
and he's not on this line pointsfor law then, But I don't know.
I remember going to the series verymuch resigned the fact they're going to
lose, but being so tied emotionallyinto the team that, like the concept
of them losing wasn't something I wantedto acknowledge. But like without JV,
(04:48):
it just seemed like Bizmac couldn't keepthis going. It seemed because Mac does
some crazy things. Uh in thisseries as well. Uh. We had
mentioned JV had spent the previous seriesand a half being completely, completely,
unbelievably strong and yet not quite gettingthe amount of burning probably deserved. The
(05:10):
Raptors are overmatched. I mean,let's we talked to ourselves into it,
as you mentioned, we taught ourselvesinto it, but they're overmatched in this
series. You personally we went talkingabout this episode one. You are in
Montreal at this time doing bad Jews, and I, along with my lovely
girlfriend at the time who is nowmy wife Melissa. May sixteenth, we
(05:31):
are celebrating our one year anniversary.We decided we would spend a weekend visiting
you Montreal to come see Badge.We ended up with that very strange bar
that wouldn't serve us. Yes,we also went to we went to like
a sports bar first to watch agame. Yeah, it was the end
(05:53):
of I guess it would must havebeen the Western Confidence. I believe it
was Game three. I believe itwas Game three because I remember being there
for a crazy bib Beyondbo game.Well, if your anniversary is a sixteenth
though game one was May seventeenth,I think we must have gone that weekend
because we watched a Raptors win together. Let's look at the calendar and see
(06:19):
what we got not to not twentyone oh six that year hasn't happened yet.
Oh yeah, that's true. Maytwenty sixteen, you are correct.
Game three watched game on Saturday twentyfirst Saturday. You are correct. Yes,
(06:39):
so we would have come in totown and Senior Saturday show. And
then we went and we went tothe crazy crazy Business Beyond Bo game right
to the bar that I watched allthe games alone and yes, which was
like a sports bar motif, butit was all Canadian, Canadian ends.
Of course. Two things start outas you would expect in this series with
(07:02):
the Raptors one fifteen eighty four lossthat was never in question, and we're
back to bad Kyle. After allthe greatness that happened in game seven,
he goes over seven from three,he goes four or fourteen eight points.
Tomorrow a little bit better eighteen points. But Lebron twenty six or twenty four
(07:23):
six and four eighty five percent fromthe field and only plays twenty eight minutes.
God damn it. Yeah, thisone. I remember we were doing
shows regularly at this point for BadJuice, Like I didn't see a lot
of these first two games, andI remember for both of these games being
like, oh, I got tofinish so I can run to the bar
(07:44):
to watch the game and getting offstage and checking the score and going nah.
We cannot stress enough though, Andas much as the Raptors were up
short twenty sixteen, Lebron James isan absurd, absurd basketball player. The
twenty fifteen twenty sixteen finals runs arelike what he like. Yes, this
(08:09):
season he did have Kyrie and KevinLove. But what he did with those
rosters in those years with the Calvesget in the finals pretty unbelievable, like
and coming back against the unamous MVPdown three one, this sea that was
this year was forgotten. That wasso we records were a stepping stone on
(08:30):
the way to one of the greath I remember at the time saying,
I thought this was the best basketballseason we have ever happened. I mean,
it's up there. I mean,this is the seventy three win Warriors.
This is blocked by James as itwas three one. This was the
great ul Star Game in Toronto.Like this, the twenty sixteen basketball season
was fucking awesome and it really usheredin this new era of basketball. The
(09:01):
then Calves are starting to do itand the Warriors are doing it where it's
space and it's you know, TristanThompson is their biggest guy, and he's
there to rim, run and reboundand not have any plays run for him,
even thought Westley, like the WesternConference Finals that year with the Thunder
and the Warriors, was also anamazing seven game series for the people for
(09:24):
the Warriors game. But forget,yes, people forget that the that Okay,
see probably should have won that seaThey're up three to one, and
then Durant I'll join the Warriors.Crazy crazy, crazy crazy. So I
think at this point, through twogames, we are saying, it's been
(09:45):
great to be in the conference finals. I don't expect anything else to happen.
Yeah, I was pretty I wasexpecting and semi content with a sweep.
It's just like, Okay, wegot beat by the greatest ever do
it fair enough, at the peakof his powers. But the series swings
back to Toronto, and you pointedout you said it yourself. You said
(10:11):
May twenty first was a Saturday,which means May twentieth was a Friday night
in Toronto. And our good friendBlake Murphy has told this story before that
he doesn't bet on basketball because he'sa basketball reporter. But the only time
he considered putting money down in abasketball game was after watching the Cavaliers shoot
(10:33):
around before Game three. I believehis exact words were, Kyrie looks hungover,
Kyrie with the hood up tightened aroundhis head, not feeling great.
This is the game we watched thesecond half of us in the bar.
(10:54):
The Raps were up thirteen at thehalf. This was the largest step sit
the Cats have faced all playoffs.It's and if I'm Dwayne Casey, I'm
not going in at halftime. Myteam's just staying on the court. Now
you think I'm joking. A technicalfoul called Thompson. Thompson pushes away James,
(11:16):
and I think they thought it wasone of the raptors that hit him
with a team, but it washis own team that I think it was
actually Damari Carol. It was KristinThompson that hit Lebron James. Referee Henny
Mallett thought it was Damary Carroll.They got to take a look at it
and get it right. Yeah,that's James got hit in the face,
but it did not appear it wasa raptor. Yet a raptor was hit
(11:37):
with a tea cord. That's whatCarol's upset about. Final seconds third quarter.
Joseph pulls back, puts up athree fine James, Dan Elaine fake
(11:58):
and foul b Piambo. James popsup quickly. He thought Pambo pushed them
down. Afterwards and looking at itlive and like, to me, that
was a foot age. It lookedlike there was that extra follow through mark
after the foul and after the whistle, rapping the hand area. I thought
(12:20):
James sold it pretty good. Lorryon the drive, the Puffs gets the
bounce, serving with five on thetwenty four. Joseph's excellent jobs staying in
front of him to help force thatturnover. Beautiful, almost the entire lower
bowl on its feet. Joseph gotit. Timeout playin same strip throughout the
(12:48):
playoffs, a bad game here orthere, when they need a win,
they get it. And boy dothey need a win tonight. Four And
this looks like a typo. Lookingat it, it looks like a typo.
Bismac Bombo seven points, twenty sixrebounds and four blocks. That is
(13:09):
ridiculous. He's just like I willsay, I go back and watch highlights
from this run. Sometimes the Bizmachighlights all make me smile because he's just
so into it and so involved withthe crowd. Like I get why he's
so beloved for doing so little inthe grand scheme of things, but like,
man, what a couple of dayshe had. It is funny you
(13:31):
talked in the previous episode about howhow much this team was in search of
a five, and when you lookat the roster construction and then you look
at where the team is now.I don't think and maybe we would say
this for the future episode, butlike how much of a difference it makes
that this team now has Surge andMark where like it just isn't a question
(13:54):
anymore. They have the best bigman rotation in the league. Yeah,
for sure. And then back thenit was like, we're we need Bismack
to grab twenty six Barns to beatthe Calves And how much of the offense
was JV Threebundy. Not that he'snot on the same level of those two
guys, but he is not theall around guy that they that they desperately
(14:16):
need it because they didn't have anyrim protection and they need that because for
all of DeMar's offensive ability, hedidn't keep anybody in front of him for
these seals. Oh my god.No, And Demari Carroll was not the
Lebron stopper that we all wanted.Mary Carroll was not physically up to the
task. It's just that's not aknock on him. It just stopping Lebron
(14:37):
James in twenty sixteen, nobody didn't, YEA. So we come to the
game that this look back is focusedaround it. It's Game four. It
is May twenty third, twenty sixteen, the Raptors with a chance to tie
it up in the Eastern Conference.I remember being so hyped for this game
(15:01):
because you like, you're right goingto this. It was like, no,
there's no chance. Then after Gamethree it was like, well they're
at home, yes, And speakof being at home, Raptors home crowds
and are always great, like oneof the best crowds in the NBA,
if not all of sports there is. And like, obviously the crowds were
(15:24):
incredible last year in the finals run, but there is nothing like an underdog
Raptors playoff crowd where they where there'sa chip on the shoulder and it's proving
people wrong. This is like thecrowd for this game. If you go
(15:46):
back and watch, it is unbelievable. I don't want to overstate this,
but this game, Game four feelsand this is probably wrong because I know
(16:12):
how it turns out. The performancesof the two big guys in Game four,
to me at the time felt asgood as I pictured winning the series
would feel. Yeah, this wasmy favorite Raptors game for a long time.
Raptors. We're gonna push to Tepoearly. This Carol hits a three
(16:33):
roster steel I had to Patterson Welsthrows it out Lowry Lowry long three puts
it ahead. TiO Lowry were theRaptors defense the past couple of games.
Lowry bag rayson, hands it toLowry. Lowry spins and hits Lowry seven
of ten from the field, fourof six from three. That's just inside
(16:56):
the heart twenty first half points.Lowry cuts to the basket, goes at
Piambo, hold on a block fromByambo, tops and shut block Love Baker
won't go Ree found scollop and aloose bull fouls. Lowry goes back door
and the foul pace pass from Patterson. Lowry with a chance for a three
(17:21):
point play. Don't try to eventhis series up at two games apiece.
The rows in the adjustment, therows of theffinity stolen by Lowry. James
in pursuit, Lowry slows down andfoul from behind the rolls and drives shot
takes at home James, and it'sLowry holding Fry as it j R.
(17:44):
Smith the Yambo all over him.Smith trying to get off the three block
five, Piambo pet to flock,Patterson taking as much time off the clock
as possible, Lowry five to shoot. Lowry on the drive gets to the
rim, catch Aday games drives,catch it out left corner for Smith.
Smith Smiths fires rebound foot fourth stillwon't stay fall on a change to Irving,
(18:08):
Irving puts up a three that won'tgo. Piammo comes flying in for
the rebound had its found. Irvingset spires the three that won't go,
and the astounding turnaround continues. Hearof the Eastern Carpert's final Raptors win a
thriller, and a series is tiedat two games of Kyle puts up thirty
(18:30):
five five and three, or thirtyfive five and five with three steals fourteen
of twenty shooting DeMar with thirty two. It was you we're talking about this.
You had to defend these guys somuch, and so much of it
was regular season stuff or a weakeropponent stuff to go at twenty sixteen calves
(18:56):
and not a Kyrie hangover game andnot excuse his game. Lebron has twenty
nine in this game. Kyrie hastwenty six in this game. They're good
players played well, they just weren'tas good as the Raptors in this game.
It was it was so huge atthe time, it was so big
as a fan. It was justlike such validation that maybe this core is
(19:22):
good enough to achieve the things thatwe're dreaming on. It was also like,
not only did they come out andwin this game, but for years
the knock on the Raptors had alwaysbeen lacking toughness, lacking heart, lacking
whatever you want to call that,and this game normally they win. But
they came out and they punched themin the fucking mouth like they go up.
They're up sixteen at half, andthen of course there's like the now
(19:48):
semi legendary play of Lebron going fora dunk and who meets him at the
rim? But Bizmac beyond the Idon't know how much better defense you can
play than the Raptor is a play, great energy, making, multiple effic
plays. Ali if the change allin a block by beyond ball, but
(20:10):
a foul that's his third personal Butit got the crowd of fired up,
regardless at the whistle player or tome, that's a clean block. That's
a clean block, Mike, that'sa block that's a clean right there,
(20:36):
Mike, What are you looking at? My man for me? Hits someone
both on Jesse block hit a footballfirst, That's that's the that is the
call. Hit ball first. It'sall off after that. Well, but
if your momentum parade you into itby blocking the ball, that's still a
foul in the active shooting. That'sa great play right there. That's a
(20:56):
clean block, Mike. I don't, Oh, it's a great play.
I just think there's contact. Thereis contact, it's not if their contact
is it a legal contact? No? And he got the wrong end of
the deal in Game three on asimilar that was called a foul. It
was not a foul. But Iremember that like that block or almost block
(21:19):
or whatever you want to call ita sent the building into a frenzy because
Bismack being Bismack as soon as thewhistle blows immediately starts hyping up the crowd.
It really felt like a like we'renot just the also rans here,
like we're not just sort of ajoke. We are beating you and we're
(21:40):
here to beat you. M Andit's you're right, though, it is
hard to overstate how much this gamemeant to Raptors fandom in twenty sixteen,
and we knocked on Dwayne Katsey throughoutthis series, but he really tightens the
rotation up here, only nine guysin the rotation and James Johnson and Terrence
Ross play less than ten minutes.Bismac plays forty one, Kyle plays forty
(22:04):
four, DeMar plays thirty nine fiftyfive. Obviously, obviously with them scoring
makes it easier for them to stayin the game. But it was like,
finally, maybe if Dwayne coach isright and the guys just shoot acceptably
well, I mean, obviously Kyleshot seventy percent, that's a little bit
(22:26):
high, and DeMar shot sixteen it'sa little bit high too. But but
if the guys hit their shots,it wasn't like they were doing anything beyond
their capability. That was the bigthing for me, is that they were
doing to their capability and not whatIt didn't seem unsustainable, no, and
it wasn't without your typical Raptors domslike they were. As I said,
they were up sixteen going to half, and the second half was just hanging
(22:48):
on for dear life because Lebron wentwent off and just started hitting everything.
But they're like, I think that'swhy this game felt monumental. Lebron and
Kyrie Lebron especially Lebron shoots eleven forsixteen in this game from the field,
and in the second half just absolutelyturns it on. He's thirteen points a
(23:11):
second half, Kyrie is. Kyriegoes six to eleven for fifteen in the
second half. But for all ofthese great performances that great players do,
Lebron is five of seven in theshot seventy one percent in the second half.
And for all those like, ohokay, they're up and these guys
are just tired of this, theRaptors matched them shot for shot, Like
(23:33):
despite everything, Lowry goes six ofnine for fifteen points in the second half.
Demarro goes nine of twelve for twentytwo points a second half. In
the second half of this game,Raptors not named Kyle Lowry and DeMar Derozen
score nine points No eleven points.Corey Joseph scores four, Patrick Harrison scores
(23:56):
two, Demari Carrol scores four,Bismack Beondo scores one. The rest of
the scoring in the entire second halfwas Kyle Lowry and to Martin Rozen incredible.
It is truly incredible. At thisat this game really even happen,
even happens. But but it Mantwo two two series was it was not
(24:21):
house money. It was just enoughto get you to believe that they were
going to pull this off. Andthen of course the crazy fourth quarter.
In this game, Kyle Lowry playsevery minute of the fourth he shoots.
He shoots three or five, includingthe two shots at the end of the
game to tie it up to orto to put it a little bit ahead,
and then to ice the game.My favorite Raptors shot of all time
(24:45):
until obviously last year. Lowry justdrives right at Kyrie and scores with like
I think it's like thirty seconds leftto put the Raptors up six, I
think, and the place just explodes. I remember sitting in that bar alone
and just screaming at the top ofmy lungs when kylet Is shot. Jamar
in the fourth quarter goes five ofsix for twelve points. Like it really
(25:10):
was just like it was exactly whatwe wanted. It was the two guys
that we've been defending and believing infor so long finally putting the team on
their backs and doing what we wantedthem to. Do. It was.
It was, It was exactly perfect. It it felt it felt like we
(25:30):
had deserved it, as fans sittingthrough that Wizard sweep, sitting through losing
to Brooklyn, sitting through being sobad against the Pacers, sitting through you
know, some of the downs ofthis series against the Heat, through all
the bad years before that. Itreally felt like the city and this team,
(25:52):
the way it was constructed, especiallyKyle and Damar, deserved to have
this game and to have it athome. Yeah, and like, like
I said, the crowd at thisgame was so behind them, like never
let up. And I believe thiswas a series where at the end Lebron
gives props to the Raptors fans,which I'm sure we'll get to, but
like this really was. This trulyfelt like and there would be another,
(26:18):
Like twenty seventeen was a bit ofa letdown. Twenty eighteen was so close
to not being letdown, but thenwas the biggest letdown then obviously finally achieving
in twenty nineteen, but this gamereally felt like the culmination of the Massi
era up to this point. Yeah, it was. It was. It
was the peak of the Rudy GayTrade era. Yeah, I think it
(26:41):
is what I would That's a greatthat's a great way to put it.
And when you look at the bottomof the rotation we talked about in the
in the beginning of the of theseries where they had they had Delon Wright,
and they had Babe and Bruno andand Norm Powell was bouncing up and
down. This is the first yearwhere that groundwork of the nine Oho five
(27:03):
begins and you can really see it, sort of the flower that's brought out
of the pavement in this series.Yeah, and I think you're right.
This was like I wonder, likeI know, you can you can play
the what if game forever in sports, like and we've played it before about
like what if X and X getstraded here and the Raptors don't get Kawhi
and blah blah blah blah blah.If this game doesn't happen. I wonder
(27:30):
how long if that Lowry, deRos and Cores stays together as long as
it does, if Lowry resigns,if X y Z, and then if
you know all obviously that all leadsto the Kauahi trade. But like,
I think this game holds a biggerpart in Raptors history than maybe it gets
credit for. And how many timessince then, up until this last offseason
(27:55):
did we hear that the Raptors mighttrade Kyle Lowry, Like, if they
don't win this game, you're probablyit probably does happen. Yeah, because
I believe he was a free agentfor this season. Was he not?
I'm pretty sure he puts on theretro throw back and that's the Instagram post,
which, by the way, I'llsay it now absurd to think Edwards
would trade Kyle Lowry. Ridiculous.Yeah, Kyle Lowry should be a Raptor
(28:17):
for as long as he wants tobe a Raptor four, and he should
go into the Hall of Fame asa Raptor and the first retired Dumber needs
to be seven. Yes, absolutelyalso notable from this game. This game,
I believe I could be getting thegame wrong. It was definitely part
of this series was how Blake andI kind of became friends. He was
in Montreal for a bachelor party andthen after and he had to stay in
(28:41):
the hotel room to write about thegame, obviously, and then after he
was after they had to and thenafter the game I went to because he
was like it was like a personI knew in Montreal who was in town.
I went to the hotel and wehad a beer and talked about how
great the Raptors were. And that'slike how our like friendship became an actual
(29:02):
friendship. So I do love it, but it's had to ignoring that Blake
was his own boss at the time. Yeah, that's very true. He
wouldn't he wouldn't be Blake if hedidn't do that. Anyway, the rest
of the series that actors get smoked. Moving on, I mean basically,
(29:25):
yeah, I remember what the gamesix of this series was. I think
the day before we close the show, so like I was, or like
the week. I think it waslike the Friday night and we closed that
Sunday, so I was getting readyto leave, and I remember going to
the bar to watch this game andlike no one believed. It was kind
of like this is over and thenbut you know what, it felt good
(29:47):
and like I'll never forget in myentire life. The Raptors lose, and
the entire crowd is chanting, let'sgo Raptors. As Lebron is doing his
postgame interview and he just goes,this is amazing and let's the crowd kind
of do their chat because they wereso loud, and it was just like
it really felt like the Raptors weresort of a rising course of all you
(30:10):
get do you hear this? Doyou hear this? Unbelievable respect and must
respect to these fans, to thiscountry. This is unbelievable. I've never
been a part of something like thisin my thirteen year career. Uh,
this is special, and they reallyappreciate what their team did. To get
back to your question, Doris,I knew this was gonna be a tough
game coming into this bid building,and uh, I just had to bring
(30:34):
my game. I had to bringmy game. I had to be uh
an attack mold from the beginning,trust my shot, and I knew once
my shot starts going and I canstart getting my teammates involved, and uh
they was able to carry me downto stretch and in game six, Lebron
with thirty three, Kyrie with thirty, Love with twenty. They had they
combined for eighty three points. Butthe Raptors go out with Lowry scoring thirty
(30:59):
five, and tomorrow are scoring twentyand nobody else putting up double figures.
So that much was at least likeit was. At least those two didn't
limp out right. Those guys wentout shooting, and it was that the
rest of the team wasn't good enough, which we later on learned is true.
Yeah, and would stay true forquite a while. Yes, and
(31:22):
speaking of moving forward and going through, we will look at the fallout from
this series, the immediate, theshort term, and the long term future
on the next episode of Sports FeltStorytime,
It's the Toronto Raptors facing the ClevelandCavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. As
we get set for Game one,presented by Verizon System seventh Series. A
sellout crowd here at the Quicken LoansArena last night, a surprise in Oaklands,
Oklahoma City. So came one ofthe Western Conference Finals in Toronto,
(00:26):
off the uppsite on the road tonightand as we mentioned, the Raptors seven
games to defeat Indiana, seven gamesto defeat Miami, and here they aspen
all Cleveland through the first two games. Not only this started lineup for Toronto
Lou but his bench has also deliveredin a big way. They have been
dominant, still undefeated, same scriptdraft the playoffs, a bad game here
(00:47):
or there, and when they needto win, they get it, and
boy did they need a win tonight. After being hammered in Cleveland, they
come back for another sellout crowd hereat the Eric Out of the Center.
The very first home Eastern Conference Finalgame was a big celebration and now a
chance to tie the series. TheYambo all over him Smith trying to get
(01:10):
off the three block five Byambo picktop up Patterson Lowry five to shoot Lowry
on the drive gets to the ramand he puts it in. James drives
kicks it out left corner for Smith. Smith Smiths fires rebound foot force still
lost, they fall on it,Chames to Irving. Irving puts up a
three that won't go Byambo comes flyingin for the rebound and is foul that
(01:36):
won't go and the astounding turnaround continues. Here of the Eastern Conference Final,
Raptors win a thriller and a seriesis tied at two games. Are oh,
read the North. Some people wereread the North channing as well,
which is their rallying crime. Theywere the two best teams in the Eastern
Conference all season long and battle forsix games here to go to go to
(02:00):
the NBA Finals. Said you wouldstep forward a navigate when you needed to
know. Why was it tonight?Of course, of all you get.
Do you hear this? Do youhear this? Unbelievable respect and must respect
to these fans, to this country. This is unbelievable. I've never been
(02:21):
a part or something like this inmy thirteen year career. Uh, this
is special, and uh they reallyappreciate what that team did. To get
back to your question, Doors i'dspts Fell. It is forts Fell.
At storytime, we are looking backto the twenty sixteen Toronto Raptors run the
(02:46):
first time in the Conference Finals,taking on Lebron James, Kevin Love,
Kyrie Irving and the superstar number oneseed Cleveland Cavaliers. The Raptors had just
closed out two straight game sevens intheir series, fending off the feisty Indianapolis
Pacers and then Kyle Lowry exploding inGame seven against the heat awaiting them.
(03:12):
It is King James, the manwho would starting with this series, really
own this team going forward. There'sLebron, It's Kyrie Irving, It's Kevin
Love. But as you mentioned before, it's also Jr. Smith and Channing
Fry, Richard Jefferson, Tristan Thompson, Matthew Delavadova, Eman Schumpert, Timmy
Famals, Gov Mo Williams, JamesJones and Dante Jones. Jake there was
(03:36):
reason, and maybe it seemed crazy, and maybe after the first two games
it seems even crazier. But cominginto this series, there was reason to
believe the Raptors would have a shot. No, there wasn't. Well,
there was the regular there was therewas one game was one game in February,
Yes where Kyle went off scored fortythree points get the winning shot over
(03:59):
Matthew Dellaba del Bo that snakes ittwo wasn't telling him that he's a man
(04:25):
and he's not on this line pointsfor law then, But I don't know.
I remember going to the series verymuch resigned the fact they're going to
lose, but being so tied emotionallyinto the team that, like the concept
of them losing wasn't something I wantedto acknowledge. But like without JV,
(04:48):
it just seemed like Bizmac couldn't keepthis going. It seemed because Mac does
some crazy things. Uh in thisseries as well. Uh. We had
mentioned JV had spent the previous seriesand a half being completely, completely,
unbelievably strong and yet not quite gettingthe amount of burning probably deserved. The
(05:10):
Raptors are overmatched. I mean,let's we talked to ourselves into it,
as you mentioned, we taught ourselvesinto it, but they're overmatched in this
series. You personally we went talkingabout this episode one. You are in
Montreal at this time doing bad Jews, and I, along with my lovely
girlfriend at the time who is nowmy wife Melissa. May sixteenth, we
(05:31):
are celebrating our one year anniversary.We decided we would spend a weekend visiting
you Montreal to come see Badge.We ended up with that very strange bar
that wouldn't serve us. Yes,we also went to we went to like
a sports bar first to watch agame. Yeah, it was the end
(05:53):
of I guess it would must havebeen the Western Confidence. I believe it
was Game three. I believe itwas Game three because I remember being there
for a crazy bib Beyondbo game.Well, if your anniversary is a sixteenth
though game one was May seventeenth,I think we must have gone that weekend
because we watched a Raptors win together. Let's look at the calendar and see
(06:19):
what we got not to not twentyone oh six that year hasn't happened yet.
Oh yeah, that's true. Maytwenty sixteen, you are correct.
Game three watched game on Saturday twentyfirst Saturday. You are correct. Yes,
(06:39):
so we would have come in totown and Senior Saturday show. And
then we went and we went tothe crazy crazy Business Beyond Bo game right
to the bar that I watched allthe games alone and yes, which was
like a sports bar motif, butit was all Canadian, Canadian ends.
Of course. Two things start outas you would expect in this series with
(07:02):
the Raptors one fifteen eighty four lossthat was never in question, and we're
back to bad Kyle. After allthe greatness that happened in game seven,
he goes over seven from three,he goes four or fourteen eight points.
Tomorrow a little bit better eighteen points. But Lebron twenty six or twenty four
(07:23):
six and four eighty five percent fromthe field and only plays twenty eight minutes.
God damn it. Yeah, thisone. I remember we were doing
shows regularly at this point for BadJuice, Like I didn't see a lot
of these first two games, andI remember for both of these games being
like, oh, I got tofinish so I can run to the bar
(07:44):
to watch the game and getting offstage and checking the score and going nah.
We cannot stress enough though, Andas much as the Raptors were up
short twenty sixteen, Lebron James isan absurd, absurd basketball player. The
twenty fifteen twenty sixteen finals runs arelike what he like. Yes, this
(08:09):
season he did have Kyrie and KevinLove. But what he did with those
rosters in those years with the Calvesget in the finals pretty unbelievable, like
and coming back against the unamous MVPdown three one, this sea that was
this year was forgotten. That wasso we records were a stepping stone on
(08:30):
the way to one of the greath I remember at the time saying,
I thought this was the best basketballseason we have ever happened. I mean,
it's up there. I mean,this is the seventy three win Warriors.
This is blocked by James as itwas three one. This was the
great ul Star Game in Toronto.Like this, the twenty sixteen basketball season
was fucking awesome and it really usheredin this new era of basketball. The
(09:01):
then Calves are starting to do itand the Warriors are doing it where it's
space and it's you know, TristanThompson is their biggest guy, and he's
there to rim, run and reboundand not have any plays run for him,
even thought Westley, like the WesternConference Finals that year with the Thunder
and the Warriors, was also anamazing seven game series for the people for
(09:24):
the Warriors game. But forget,yes, people forget that the that Okay,
see probably should have won that seaThey're up three to one, and
then Durant I'll join the Warriors.Crazy crazy, crazy crazy. So I
think at this point, through twogames, we are saying, it's been
(09:45):
great to be in the conference finals. I don't expect anything else to happen.
Yeah, I was pretty I wasexpecting and semi content with a sweep.
It's just like, Okay, wegot beat by the greatest ever do
it fair enough, at the peakof his powers. But the series swings
back to Toronto, and you pointedout you said it yourself. You said
(10:11):
May twenty first was a Saturday,which means May twentieth was a Friday night
in Toronto. And our good friendBlake Murphy has told this story before that
he doesn't bet on basketball because he'sa basketball reporter. But the only time
he considered putting money down in abasketball game was after watching the Cavaliers shoot
(10:33):
around before Game three. I believehis exact words were, Kyrie looks hungover,
Kyrie with the hood up tightened aroundhis head, not feeling great.
This is the game we watched thesecond half of us in the bar.
(10:54):
The Raps were up thirteen at thehalf. This was the largest step sit
the Cats have faced all playoffs.It's and if I'm Dwayne Casey, I'm
not going in at halftime. Myteam's just staying on the court. Now
you think I'm joking. A technicalfoul called Thompson. Thompson pushes away James,
(11:16):
and I think they thought it wasone of the raptors that hit him
with a team, but it washis own team that I think it was
actually Damari Carol. It was KristinThompson that hit Lebron James. Referee Henny
Mallett thought it was Damary Carroll.They got to take a look at it
and get it right. Yeah,that's James got hit in the face,
but it did not appear it wasa raptor. Yet a raptor was hit
(11:37):
with a tea cord. That's whatCarol's upset about. Final seconds third quarter.
Joseph pulls back, puts up athree fine James, Dan Elaine fake
(11:58):
and foul b Piambo. James popsup quickly. He thought Pambo pushed them
down. Afterwards and looking at itlive and like, to me, that
was a foot age. It lookedlike there was that extra follow through mark
after the foul and after the whistle, rapping the hand area. I thought
(12:20):
James sold it pretty good. Lorryon the drive, the Puffs gets the
bounce, serving with five on thetwenty four. Joseph's excellent jobs staying in
front of him to help force thatturnover. Beautiful, almost the entire lower
bowl on its feet. Joseph gotit. Timeout playin same strip throughout the
(12:48):
playoffs, a bad game here orthere, when they need a win,
they get it. And boy dothey need a win tonight. Four And
this looks like a typo. Lookingat it, it looks like a typo.
Bismac Bombo seven points, twenty sixrebounds and four blocks. That is
(13:09):
ridiculous. He's just like I willsay, I go back and watch highlights
from this run. Sometimes the Bizmachighlights all make me smile because he's just
so into it and so involved withthe crowd. Like I get why he's
so beloved for doing so little inthe grand scheme of things, but like,
man, what a couple of dayshe had. It is funny you
(13:31):
talked in the previous episode about howhow much this team was in search of
a five, and when you lookat the roster construction and then you look
at where the team is now.I don't think and maybe we would say
this for the future episode, butlike how much of a difference it makes
that this team now has Surge andMark where like it just isn't a question
(13:54):
anymore. They have the best bigman rotation in the league. Yeah,
for sure. And then back thenit was like, we're we need Bismack
to grab twenty six Barns to beatthe Calves And how much of the offense
was JV Threebundy. Not that he'snot on the same level of those two
guys, but he is not theall around guy that they that they desperately
(14:16):
need it because they didn't have anyrim protection and they need that because for
all of DeMar's offensive ability, hedidn't keep anybody in front of him for
these seals. Oh my god.No, And Demari Carroll was not the
Lebron stopper that we all wanted.Mary Carroll was not physically up to the
task. It's just that's not aknock on him. It just stopping Lebron
(14:37):
James in twenty sixteen, nobody didn't, YEA. So we come to the
game that this look back is focusedaround it. It's Game four. It
is May twenty third, twenty sixteen, the Raptors with a chance to tie
it up in the Eastern Conference.I remember being so hyped for this game
(15:01):
because you like, you're right goingto this. It was like, no,
there's no chance. Then after Gamethree it was like, well they're
at home, yes, And speakof being at home, Raptors home crowds
and are always great, like oneof the best crowds in the NBA,
if not all of sports there is. And like, obviously the crowds were
(15:24):
incredible last year in the finals run, but there is nothing like an underdog
Raptors playoff crowd where they where there'sa chip on the shoulder and it's proving
people wrong. This is like thecrowd for this game. If you go
(15:46):
back and watch, it is unbelievable. I don't want to overstate this,
but this game, Game four feelsand this is probably wrong because I know
(16:12):
how it turns out. The performancesof the two big guys in Game four,
to me at the time felt asgood as I pictured winning the series
would feel. Yeah, this wasmy favorite Raptors game for a long time.
Raptors. We're gonna push to Tepoearly. This Carol hits a three
(16:33):
roster steel I had to Patterson Welsthrows it out Lowry Lowry long three puts
it ahead. TiO Lowry were theRaptors defense the past couple of games.
Lowry bag rayson, hands it toLowry. Lowry spins and hits Lowry seven
of ten from the field, fourof six from three. That's just inside
(16:56):
the heart twenty first half points.Lowry cuts to the basket, goes at
Piambo, hold on a block fromByambo, tops and shut block Love Baker
won't go Ree found scollop and aloose bull fouls. Lowry goes back door
and the foul pace pass from Patterson. Lowry with a chance for a three
(17:21):
point play. Don't try to eventhis series up at two games apiece.
The rows in the adjustment, therows of theffinity stolen by Lowry. James
in pursuit, Lowry slows down andfoul from behind the rolls and drives shot
takes at home James, and it'sLowry holding Fry as it j R.
(17:44):
Smith the Yambo all over him.Smith trying to get off the three block
five, Piambo pet to flock,Patterson taking as much time off the clock
as possible, Lowry five to shoot. Lowry on the drive gets to the
rim, catch Aday games drives,catch it out left corner for Smith.
Smith Smiths fires rebound foot fourth stillwon't stay fall on a change to Irving,
(18:08):
Irving puts up a three that won'tgo. Piammo comes flying in for
the rebound had its found. Irvingset spires the three that won't go,
and the astounding turnaround continues. Hearof the Eastern Carpert's final Raptors win a
thriller, and a series is tiedat two games of Kyle puts up thirty
(18:30):
five five and three, or thirtyfive five and five with three steals fourteen
of twenty shooting DeMar with thirty two. It was you we're talking about this.
You had to defend these guys somuch, and so much of it
was regular season stuff or a weakeropponent stuff to go at twenty sixteen calves
(18:56):
and not a Kyrie hangover game andnot excuse his game. Lebron has twenty
nine in this game. Kyrie hastwenty six in this game. They're good
players played well, they just weren'tas good as the Raptors in this game.
It was it was so huge atthe time, it was so big
as a fan. It was justlike such validation that maybe this core is
(19:22):
good enough to achieve the things thatwe're dreaming on. It was also like,
not only did they come out andwin this game, but for years
the knock on the Raptors had alwaysbeen lacking toughness, lacking heart, lacking
whatever you want to call that,and this game normally they win. But
they came out and they punched themin the fucking mouth like they go up.
They're up sixteen at half, andthen of course there's like the now
(19:48):
semi legendary play of Lebron going fora dunk and who meets him at the
rim? But Bizmac beyond the Idon't know how much better defense you can
play than the Raptor is a play, great energy, making, multiple effic
plays. Ali if the change allin a block by beyond ball, but
(20:10):
a foul that's his third personal Butit got the crowd of fired up,
regardless at the whistle player or tome, that's a clean block. That's
a clean block, Mike, that'sa block that's a clean right there,
(20:36):
Mike, What are you looking at? My man for me? Hits someone
both on Jesse block hit a footballfirst, That's that's the that is the
call. Hit ball first. It'sall off after that. Well, but
if your momentum parade you into itby blocking the ball, that's still a
foul in the active shooting. That'sa great play right there. That's a
(20:56):
clean block, Mike. I don't, Oh, it's a great play.
I just think there's contact. Thereis contact, it's not if their contact
is it a legal contact? No? And he got the wrong end of
the deal in Game three on asimilar that was called a foul. It
was not a foul. But Iremember that like that block or almost block
(21:19):
or whatever you want to call ita sent the building into a frenzy because
Bismack being Bismack as soon as thewhistle blows immediately starts hyping up the crowd.
It really felt like a like we'renot just the also rans here,
like we're not just sort of ajoke. We are beating you and we're
(21:40):
here to beat you. M Andit's you're right, though, it is
hard to overstate how much this gamemeant to Raptors fandom in twenty sixteen,
and we knocked on Dwayne Katsey throughoutthis series, but he really tightens the
rotation up here, only nine guysin the rotation and James Johnson and Terrence
Ross play less than ten minutes.Bismac plays forty one, Kyle plays forty
(22:04):
four, DeMar plays thirty nine fiftyfive. Obviously, obviously with them scoring
makes it easier for them to stayin the game. But it was like,
finally, maybe if Dwayne coach isright and the guys just shoot acceptably
well, I mean, obviously Kyleshot seventy percent, that's a little bit
(22:26):
high, and DeMar shot sixteen it'sa little bit high too. But but
if the guys hit their shots,it wasn't like they were doing anything beyond
their capability. That was the bigthing for me, is that they were
doing to their capability and not whatIt didn't seem unsustainable, no, and
it wasn't without your typical Raptors domslike they were. As I said,
they were up sixteen going to half, and the second half was just hanging
(22:48):
on for dear life because Lebron wentwent off and just started hitting everything.
But they're like, I think that'swhy this game felt monumental. Lebron and
Kyrie Lebron especially Lebron shoots eleven forsixteen in this game from the field,
and in the second half just absolutelyturns it on. He's thirteen points a
(23:11):
second half, Kyrie is. Kyriegoes six to eleven for fifteen in the
second half. But for all ofthese great performances that great players do,
Lebron is five of seven in theshot seventy one percent in the second half.
And for all those like, ohokay, they're up and these guys
are just tired of this, theRaptors matched them shot for shot, Like
(23:33):
despite everything, Lowry goes six ofnine for fifteen points in the second half.
Demarro goes nine of twelve for twentytwo points a second half. In
the second half of this game,Raptors not named Kyle Lowry and DeMar Derozen
score nine points No eleven points.Corey Joseph scores four, Patrick Harrison scores
(23:56):
two, Demari Carrol scores four,Bismack Beondo scores one. The rest of
the scoring in the entire second halfwas Kyle Lowry and to Martin Rozen incredible.
It is truly incredible. At thisat this game really even happen,
even happens. But but it Mantwo two two series was it was not
(24:21):
house money. It was just enoughto get you to believe that they were
going to pull this off. Andthen of course the crazy fourth quarter.
In this game, Kyle Lowry playsevery minute of the fourth he shoots.
He shoots three or five, includingthe two shots at the end of the
game to tie it up to orto to put it a little bit ahead,
and then to ice the game.My favorite Raptors shot of all time
(24:45):
until obviously last year. Lowry justdrives right at Kyrie and scores with like
I think it's like thirty seconds leftto put the Raptors up six, I
think, and the place just explodes. I remember sitting in that bar alone
and just screaming at the top ofmy lungs when kylet Is shot. Jamar
in the fourth quarter goes five ofsix for twelve points. Like it really
(25:10):
was just like it was exactly whatwe wanted. It was the two guys
that we've been defending and believing infor so long finally putting the team on
their backs and doing what we wantedthem to. Do. It was.
It was, It was exactly perfect. It it felt it felt like we
(25:30):
had deserved it, as fans sittingthrough that Wizard sweep, sitting through losing
to Brooklyn, sitting through being sobad against the Pacers, sitting through you
know, some of the downs ofthis series against the Heat, through all
the bad years before that. Itreally felt like the city and this team,
(25:52):
the way it was constructed, especiallyKyle and Damar, deserved to have
this game and to have it athome. Yeah, and like, like
I said, the crowd at thisgame was so behind them, like never
let up. And I believe thiswas a series where at the end Lebron
gives props to the Raptors fans,which I'm sure we'll get to, but
like this really was. This trulyfelt like and there would be another,
(26:18):
Like twenty seventeen was a bit ofa letdown. Twenty eighteen was so close
to not being letdown, but thenwas the biggest letdown then obviously finally achieving
in twenty nineteen, but this gamereally felt like the culmination of the Massi
era up to this point. Yeah, it was. It was. It
was the peak of the Rudy GayTrade era. Yeah, I think it
(26:41):
is what I would That's a greatthat's a great way to put it.
And when you look at the bottomof the rotation we talked about in the
in the beginning of the of theseries where they had they had Delon Wright,
and they had Babe and Bruno andand Norm Powell was bouncing up and
down. This is the first yearwhere that groundwork of the nine Oho five
(27:03):
begins and you can really see it, sort of the flower that's brought out
of the pavement in this series.Yeah, and I think you're right.
This was like I wonder, likeI know, you can you can play
the what if game forever in sports, like and we've played it before about
like what if X and X getstraded here and the Raptors don't get Kawhi
and blah blah blah blah blah.If this game doesn't happen. I wonder
(27:30):
how long if that Lowry, deRos and Cores stays together as long as
it does, if Lowry resigns,if X y Z, and then if
you know all obviously that all leadsto the Kauahi trade. But like,
I think this game holds a biggerpart in Raptors history than maybe it gets
credit for. And how many timessince then, up until this last offseason
(27:55):
did we hear that the Raptors mighttrade Kyle Lowry, Like, if they
don't win this game, you're probablyit probably does happen. Yeah, because
I believe he was a free agentfor this season. Was he not?
I'm pretty sure he puts on theretro throw back and that's the Instagram post,
which, by the way, I'llsay it now absurd to think Edwards
would trade Kyle Lowry. Ridiculous.Yeah, Kyle Lowry should be a Raptor
(28:17):
for as long as he wants tobe a Raptor four, and he should
go into the Hall of Fame asa Raptor and the first retired Dumber needs
to be seven. Yes, absolutelyalso notable from this game. This game,
I believe I could be getting thegame wrong. It was definitely part
of this series was how Blake andI kind of became friends. He was
in Montreal for a bachelor party andthen after and he had to stay in
(28:41):
the hotel room to write about thegame, obviously, and then after he
was after they had to and thenafter the game I went to because he
was like it was like a personI knew in Montreal who was in town.
I went to the hotel and wehad a beer and talked about how
great the Raptors were. And that'slike how our like friendship became an actual
(29:02):
friendship. So I do love it, but it's had to ignoring that Blake
was his own boss at the time. Yeah, that's very true. He
wouldn't he wouldn't be Blake if hedidn't do that. Anyway, the rest
of the series that actors get smoked. Moving on, I mean basically,
(29:25):
yeah, I remember what the gamesix of this series was. I think
the day before we close the show, so like I was, or like
the week. I think it waslike the Friday night and we closed that
Sunday, so I was getting readyto leave, and I remember going to
the bar to watch this game andlike no one believed. It was kind
of like this is over and thenbut you know what, it felt good
(29:47):
and like I'll never forget in myentire life. The Raptors lose, and
the entire crowd is chanting, let'sgo Raptors. As Lebron is doing his
postgame interview and he just goes,this is amazing and let's the crowd kind
of do their chat because they wereso loud, and it was just like
it really felt like the Raptors weresort of a rising course of all you
(30:10):
get do you hear this? Doyou hear this? Unbelievable respect and must
respect to these fans, to thiscountry. This is unbelievable. I've never
been a part of something like thisin my thirteen year career. Uh,
this is special, and they reallyappreciate what their team did. To get
back to your question, Doris,I knew this was gonna be a tough
game coming into this bid building,and uh, I just had to bring
(30:34):
my game. I had to bringmy game. I had to be uh
an attack mold from the beginning,trust my shot, and I knew once
my shot starts going and I canstart getting my teammates involved, and uh
they was able to carry me downto stretch and in game six, Lebron
with thirty three, Kyrie with thirty, Love with twenty. They had they
combined for eighty three points. Butthe Raptors go out with Lowry scoring thirty
(30:59):
five, and tomorrow are scoring twentyand nobody else putting up double figures.
So that much was at least likeit was. At least those two didn't
limp out right. Those guys wentout shooting, and it was that the
rest of the team wasn't good enough, which we later on learned is true.
Yeah, and would stay true forquite a while. Yes, and
(31:22):
speaking of moving forward and going through, we will look at the fallout from
this series, the immediate, theshort term, and the long term future
on the next episode of Sports FeltStorytime,
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