It’s been a marquee year for your Toronto Raptors. A franchise-record 56 wins, a second seed in the Eastern Conference, and an opportunity to make a deep playoff run. There’s lot of reasons to be excited in Raptorland not just for the playoffs, but for the future, with promising youngsters like Norman Powell and Delon Wright.
As we anxiously wait for the playoffs to kick off, it’s the perfect opportunity to look back at the season that was. So, as a celebration of this expectation-shattering regular season, let’s look back at some of the best on-court moments the campaign had to offer.
10. The Toronto Raptors throw a basketball to each other a few times
The Raptors have caught some flack in the past for not moving the ball enough. Sometimes that’s a legitimate criticism, but other times low assist number are just a by-product of the driving, get-to-the-foul-line style of play they utilize. But on this play, the Raptors make basketball purists swoon by moving the rock crisply and without hesitation, culminating in a Norm Powell 3-ball.
9. Kyle Lowry gets tricky
The two losses to the Golden State Warriors early in the season were two of the most exciting Raptors’ losses in recent memory. Twice the Dinoes were within a shot or two of taking down the eventual 73-9 powerhouse, and twice Kyle Lowry went toe-to-toe with Steph Curry and didn’t blink. On this play, KLow completely fools Klay Thompson and Festus Ezeli on his way to the rim, showing off his ability to make something out of absolutely nothing.
8. DEFENCE CLAP CLAP DEFENCE CLAP CLAP
Jabari Parker missed most of his first year in the league due to a torn ACL. After getting rejected at the rim twice in the same play by Bismack Biyombo, he probably longed for the days he could sit on the couch and watch games from home. Biyombo’s defence off the bench has been a revelation for the Raptors this season, who previously had guys like Tyler Hansbrough filling that role. Biyombo has been the focal point of Toronto’s defensive revolution, so this list wouldn’t have been complete without highlighting one of the best defensive plays of the year.
7. One of Patrick Patterson‘s 4,876 put-backs (or: a Pat-back. Hehe.)
In an episode of the 2 Matts, 2 Pats podcast (check it out if you haven’t), Patrick Patterson noted he attempts to get one of these put-back plays every game. It shows, as the above play was the best of a long string of slams that had opposing defences confused and looking for answers. You’d think teams would learn to box him out, but Patterson is like life for Jeff Goldblum: he always finds a way.
Also, astute readers will notice this is the third play on the list from the Toronto Raptors’ March 15 win in Milwaukee. That was a fun game.
6. Norman Powell leaves the Hawks in the dust
One of the highlights of the Raptors’ season has been watching Norman Powell emerge as one of the biggest steals of the 2015 Draft. When the kid gets a head of steam in transition, it’s best to step out of the way. Dennis Schroeder learned this the hard way on this play, as he gets shaken on a wicked crossover and has to watch in shame as Norm throws down an uncontested slam.
Bonus points for Norm’s primal scream as he asserts his dominance over Atlanta’s feeble attempts at defending him.
5. Cory Joseph sends Brian Roberts’s ankles into purgatory
A lot of ankle break clips are posers. A guy steps on a teammate’s foot while defending a ball-handler, falls over, and suddenly everyone’s got a Vine up about it. But this Cory Joseph cross over and subsequent dime to Kyle Lowry is legit. Charlotte‘s Brian Roberts looks like his legs turned to spaghetti as his dignity gets absorbed by the 6-god Cory Jo.
4. DeMar cocks a joint back
Sometimes it seems like DeRozan has a hitlist of guys he needs to dunk on. On plays like this one, it’s like he decided long ago Shabazz Muhammed was his next victim and there’s was nothing the Timberwolves could do about it.
He did the same thing earlier in the year against the 76ers on a very similar play. But I chose to go with the above dunk as the official number four on this list because I’m pretty sure even I could dunk on Jahlil Okafor. Here it is anyway as an honourable mention:
3. Cory Joseph silences D.C.
One of the marks of a good team is finding ways to win games they really have no business winning. The Raptors were flat this entire game, trailing by double digits before a late game push had them within a point with three seconds left. As you’d expect, the ball ended up in DeMar DeRozan’s hands in that situation. As you’d likely not expect, Cory Joseph hit the game winner from behind the arc after a beautiful feed by DeRozan. Putting the Wizards away on their home court felt just a little special after the results of last year’s playoffs.
2. DeMar DeRozan makes Rudy Gobert reassess some life choices
This is the NBA’s dunk of the year. I don’t care, fight me.
Rudy Gobert is known for shot blocking, it’s sort of his thing. DeMar DeRozan makes him look like Andrea Bargnani trying to swat a mosquito.
1. Kyle Lowry caps off a career night
The players and coaches will say it was just another game, but their 99-97 victory over the first place Cleveland Cavaliers was a defining moment for the Raptors season. Kyle Lowry refused to lose, dropping 43 points, nine assists and four steals against a full-strength Cavs team, none of which were as big as this step-back long two over pesky defender Matthew Dellavedova to win the game. The victory gave the Raptors the season series and tie-breaker against Cleveland and cemented the team as a legitimate threat to the presumed Eastern Conference Champion Cavs.
