The Toronto Raptors let their first NBA Championship slip away Monday night. They didn't make the same mistake in Game 6.

After 24 years and plenty of ups and downs along the way, the Raptors are NBA Champions.

Believe it, Canada.

Here is a look at the top moments of the Raptors 2018-19 season from the summer's blockbuster deal all the way up to their first championship in franchise history.

 

The Trade

It wasn’t enough that Nick Nurse replaced Dwane Casey as Raptors’ head coach. Or that LeBron James – whose Cleveland Cavaliers eliminated the Raps in three straight seasons – signed out of conference with the Los Angeles Lakers. No, team president Masai Ujiri had bigger plans.

In mid-July, the Raptors pulled off one of the biggest trades in recent memory by acquiring Kawhi Leonard from the San Antonio Spurs in a deal centred around arguably one of the greatest Raptors ever in DeMar DeRozan.

Immediately questions emerged. Was Kawhi healthy? Was he against playing in Toronto? Would he leave after just one season? Would he be enough to get the Raptors over the hump?

 “I’m willing to take risks,” Ujiri said after the deal.

The word risk may have been an understatement.

 

Starting Strong

Everyone knew the Cavaliers with LeBron were a lot different than the Cavaliers without LeBron. But it wasn’t Toronto vs. Cleveland that people went to see on opening night – it was Kawhi.

 

In his Raptor red for the first time in a game that counted, Toronto’s new enigmatic star didn’t disappoint. After a rousing ovation in the pre-game, Kawhi went out and put up 24 points and 12 rebounds as the Raptors cruised past the Cavs 116-104 to get off to a winning start. After the game, Leonard credited the fans for their enthusiasm.

“It was great,” he said of the crowd. “They gave me some more energy.”

 

Dethroning the champs

Following a win over the Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto’s record sat at 18-4 and it was clear they were one of the best teams in the league. But they were about to get their biggest test yet.

On Nov. 29, the Golden State Warriors came to town. The game was dubbed – correctly, as we now know – as a possible NBA Finals preview. Each team was up for the challenge.

Kawhi Leonard scored 37 points and Pascal Siakam added a career-high 26 (at the time) as the Raptors overcame a 51-point effort from Kevin Durant to take down the Raptors 131-128 in overtime at Scotiabank Arena.

“An incredible basketball game for the fans to watch. We came up just short,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.

Naturally, fans wanted a rematch, and they didn’t have to wait long to get one.

 

The teams met just over two weeks later at Oracle Arena and this time, it wasn’t even close. Toronto got double-figure point totals from each of their starters en route to a 113-93 dismantling of the two-time defending champions.

Oh, and they did it without Kawhi Leonard, who sat out with a hip injury.

 

Homecomings

The Raptors were rolling when the calendar flipped to 2019, sitting at 28-11 following a win over the Utah Jazz on New Year’s Day. Their next game was one the basketball world had been waiting for a long time.

On Jan. 3, Leonard and the Raptors were in San Antonio to take on the Spurs. It was the teams’ first matchup since the megadeal and the first chance Spurs fans had to show Kawhi how they felt about his departure that never really seemed to make sense.

As expected, he was not welcomed back with open arms.

Former Raptor DeMar DeRozan had his first career triple-double and Leonard had just 21 points as the Raps were blown out 125-107 in front of an energetic San Antonio crowd.

But the Raptors got some payback later in the season, beating the Spurs 120-117 on Feb. 22 in Toronto. Naturally, Leonard stole the ball from DeRozan nearing the end of the game and jammed home a go-ahead dunk to seal the win against his former team.

 

 

Bulking up, finishing strong

Ujiri proved in the summer that he wasn’t afraid to part with core pieces to improve his team. At the trade deadline in early February, he did it again.

Seeking to beef up their interior defence, the Raptors sent Jonas Valanciunas, C.J. Miles, Delon Wright and a second-round pick to the Memphis Grizzles in exchange for former defensive player of the year Marc Gasol.

 

Gasol gave the Raptors new energy and the team finished the season second in the Eastern Conference at 58-24. They finished one win shy of their franchise record even though Leonard missed 22 games, many due to “load management” that was intended to keep him healthy deep into the playoffs. Oddly enough, Toronto was 17-5 in games played without their superstar.

 

A familiar start

The Leonard trade immediately made many wonder if the Raps’ previous playoff disappointments were a thing of the past. If they were, it wasn’t apparent early on.

In the first round of the playoffs, the visiting Orlando Magic stormed into Scotiabank Arena and stunned the Raps 104-101 behind a 25-point effort from D.J. Augustin. Though Toronto would win the next four games handily, they found themselves in another hole against the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round.

With the series tied at one game apiece, Toronto laid an egg in Game 3, falling 116-95 at the Wells Fargo Center to trail 2-1 in the series.

“I think we got outplayed in just about every area we can get outplayed,” a dejected Nick Nurse said after the game.

For a few days, everything the Raptors had gone all in for was at risk.

 

The shot

After a narrow win in Game 4, Toronto and Philadelphia went back and forth the rest of the series to force one of the sweetest scenarios in the world of sports – Game 7.

Like the rest of the series, Game 7 was evenly matched and came down to the final seconds. By now, everyone knows the story.

After a Jimmy Butler layup tied the game with 4.2 seconds to play, the stage was set for Leonard to show why the Raptors went out and got him. He did.

 

Leonard caught the inbounds pass at the top of the circle and dribbled right. With Joel Embiid draped all over him, Kawhi was forced to put up a rainbow jumper with 0.4 seconds remaining.

Bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce… jubilation.

It was likely the best moment in franchise history, but the Raps still had work to do. And they had it cut out for them in the Eastern Conference Finals.

 

Uncharted territory

The Milwaukee Bucks were a challenge, and after Games 1 and 2, it looked like the challenge was too much for Toronto.

The Raptors dropped the first two games of the series and came home needing a win to avoid the dreaded 0-3 deficit. To get it, who did they turn to? Leonard, of course.

Kawhi poured in 36 points – including eight in the second overtime – as the Raps survived with a 118-112 Game 3 win in double OT.

It was a turning point of epic proportions. The Raptors blew out the Bucks in Game 4 and outlasted them in the next two to clinch their first NBA Finals berth in franchise history.

 

“It’s taken a long time to get here in my career, Kyle Lowry said after the Game 6 clincher. “I’ve run into one guy for a while.”

That “guy” Lowry was referring to made eight straight Finals, but nothing lasts forever. It was the Raptors’ time to shine.

 

On the brink

Standing in Toronto’s way were the Golden State Warriors, who have been no stranger to June basketball in recent years having made five straight Finals.

But the Raptors sent a message in Game 1.

After struggling at times during the Milwaukee series, Pascal Siakam was huge in the opener as he tallied 32 points to lead the Raptors to a decisive 118-109 Game 1 victory. Sure enough, the Warriors punched back in Game 2 and headed back to Oakland with a series split. It was the result the Warriors desperately needed, but it came at a cost.

Star guard Klay Thompson suffered a hamstring injury in the fourth quarter of their win and after much speculation was ruled out for Game 3. Already without Kevin Durant because of a right leg injury, Steph Curry was asked to take control of the offence. And did he ever.

Curry put up a playoff career-high 47 points but it wasn’t enough as Toronto took advantage of a short-handed Warriors team to win 123-109. Even with Thompson’s return, Toronto kept that momentum going and took Game 4 to move within one win of immortality.

That takes us to Monday night, and we know the story there. The ugliness of the Durant injury after his gutsy return. The Warriors’ clutch late-game threes. The last-second attempt from Kyle Lowry that Draymond Green appeared to get a finger on. 

“The moment is the moment, but we still are staying in it,” Lowry said Wednesday. “We’re not too up, we’re not too down. We’re just, ‘One game, hey, we lost it.’ Now we’ve got to move on to the next one.”

 

Bringing it home

It was obvious that the Raptors had regrouped as Kyle Lowry put Toronto on top 8-0 with three buckets in the first minute and change. 

But Golden State punched back and switched to a zone defence that momentarily stalled the Raptors' offence. When Toronto's shot stopped falling, the Warriors caught up and trailed by only one at end of the quarter.

Game on.

Things stayed close through the second quarter. And the third. And up until the dying seconds in the fourth. Just like the way it had been already in this series. 

After a costly turnover from Danny Green with under 10 seconds to go, the Warriors had the ball in their end with a chance to take the lead. Steph Curry caught the inbounds pass with eight seconds left and had a relatively open look from three. It clanked off the rim and from there, mayhem ensued. Draymond Green eventually came away with the ball but called a timeout the defending champs didn't have with about one second remaining. That sealed it as the Raptors went on to win 114-110 after three made free throws from Kawhi Leonard. 

 

The Raptors never got to dribble the ball out and celebrate. They never got to sub their starters off to a rousing ovation and start the party on the bench. But it didn't matter. Toronto -- scratch that, Canada -- is on top of the basketball world. 

"Toronto, Canada, we brought it home baby!" Lowry said.

"This is what I play basketball for," Leonard said. "This is what I work out for."