I’ll start this out by saying that the Toronto Raptors beating the Milwaukee Bucks to go to the NBA finals isn’t a shock. It’s just a plot twist.
The real shock is that the Milwaukee Bucks lost a 2-0 series lead in four consecutive games. Blowing a 15 point lead in a game that would send them home for good.
The Milwaukee Bucks have nothing to hang their heads about.
Sure, it’s a disappointing end to a 60-22 regular season that led the entire NBA, and became the third team in franchise history with the 72′-73′ and 80′-81′ Milwaukee Bucks teams to achieve that record.
For a little “extra credit”: The NBA champion 70′-71′ team still has the franchise’s best record. It was 66-16.
Anyways….
The Bucks can learn from this. Their star had a career year and the sky is the limit for him as he only gets older and wiser. They definitely have the right coach. I believe moving forward, it will come down to management to have career years as well in order to keep this train moving in the right direction. 60-22 wasn’t enough. Their star player averaging 27 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists wasn’t enough. Leading the league, averaging 118.1 points per game, wasn’t enough.
But…that’s enough. Better luck next year.
Now
To the real point of this post.
I don’t mean to be cheesy, but as soon as the final buzzer sounded in game six, Drake’s “Started from the bottom” instantly played in my head.
It’s only fitting right?
Just a little bit over a year ago, The Raptors unsuccessfully relocated the team to LeBronto for four games after securing the #1 seed in the eastern conference with a 59-23 record and beating the Washington Wizards in the first round.
After returning back to Toronto, Raptors executive Masai Ujiri would make a blockbuster trade that sent the beloved Demar Derozen to the San Antonio Spurs for Kawhi Leonard.
Long story short. 58 wins, A crazy bouncy buzzer beater over Ben and Embiid to beat the Sixers, and a 4 game win streak to beat the best team in the NBA all year, has lead to the Toronto Raptors making their first appearance in the NBA finals.
It’s no secret that Kawhi is the main piece to this accomplishment, but to see it in real time during these playoffs has been an honor. He’s averaging 31 points and 8 rebounds, as well as a steal and a half and half a block per game.
The thing about those steals and blocks stats are that Kawhi seems to get them at the most pivotal moments in games.
We’ve seen it time after time with him. His defense has even got him a finals mvp award in 2014.
Now with the score at will skill added, it’s left us to question if we should put his name in the number 1 spot of the current “top 5” lists.
Unlike KD’s team, the Raptors don’t stand a chance without Kawhi. That’s a different discussion for another day though. For topic at hand here, KD probably won’t even be on the floor to defend himself. Moving on….
This now sets us up for a promising matchup with the Golden State Warriors. A team Kawhi is familiar with, and also has unfinished business with after the way he exited the 2017 playoffs.
Do I think the Raptors have a legitimate shot to beat the Warriors for an NBA title, no, but I will be tuned in to see what Kawhi and the Raptors do to try to prove me wrong. 
NIXTH SCALE SPORTS 