Toronto Raptors

Toronto Raptors fans didn't waste a second to celebrate their team's first championship in franchise history as they stormed city streets and climbed light poles and buildings after the Raps' 114-110 series-closing win over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.

The title was just Toronto's second in an American professional sports league since the Blue Jays won the 1993 World Series. Toronto FC took home the 2017 MLS Cup before the Raptors won two years later.

Raptors fans' passion has been impossible to ignore throughout the entire playoffs.

Maple Leaf Square morphs into Jurassic Park for big Raptors games, where a throng of fans meet to watch their team.

When the Raps won the Eastern Conference Finals, fans climbed buses and temporarily formed a blockade in front of Toronto guard Fred VanVleet as he tried to leave Scotiabank Arena.

Now the Raptors have even more reason to celebrate, and chances are they won't stop any time soon.

Toronto is about to have a party 24 years in the making.

The Toronto Raptors won their first championship in franchise history Thursday with a 114-110 victory over the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals. They prevented a three-peat in the process and completed a playoff journey that also included a buzzer-beater win over the Philadelphia 76ers and victory over the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks.

Championships mean parades, and the Raptors will have theirs Monday.

Those who will not be able to attend can watch it on Sportsnet:

Stephanie Smyth of CP24 in Toronto provided additional information, noting the parade will start at 10 a.m. ET at Exhibition Place and go along Lakeshore to York. From there, it will go to University North and then to Armoury Street before heading to NPS.

She pointed out CP24 will also have full coverage of the festivities.

Raptors fans will be celebrating in large part because of Kawhi Leonard, who scored 22 points in the final win. Toronto acquired him via trade from the San Antonio Spurs before the season, and he led the team to a title as the NBA Finals MVP.

However, he needed plenty of help from a balanced attack Thursday. Kyle Lowry stuffed the stat sheet with 26 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and three steals, while Pascal Siakam (26 points and 10 boards), Fred VanVleet (22 points) and Serge Ibaka (15 points) helped spearhead the effort.

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It was the type of balance the depleted Warriors couldn’t match.

Kevin Durant was already out with a ruptured Achilles, and the two-time reigning champions lost Klay Thompson to a knee injury in the third quarter. Thompson left with 30 points and appeared to be leading Golden State to a decisive Game 7 at the time of the setback.

Even with all that, the Warriors had the chance to win in the final 10 seconds when Stephen Curry’s three-pointer rimmed out.

The miss ended the dream for Golden State and started the festivities for Toronto, who is sure to put on quite the party Monday.

Kawhi Leonard spoke loudest with his play, culminating in his second NBA title and second NBA Finals MVP on Thursday night as the Toronto Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors 114-110 in Game 6.

Following the victory, however, the All-Star forward spoke to ESPN's Rachel Nichols about the tumultuous last two years of his career. 

"A lot of people thought I was faking the injury or didn't want to play for my team, and that was disappointing to me," he said. "So just going through that, I knew I just had to trust myself. It doesn't matter what anyone had to say about me."

Leonard was referring to the lingering quadriceps injury that held him out of all but nine games last season with the San Antonio Spurs. The perceived mystery surrounding the Spurs' handling of his recovery caused an irreconcilable rift between Leonard and the organization. 

As a result, Leonard was traded to the Raptors. 

Toronto was proactive with the 27-year-old's health all season long, implementing load management that limited him to 60 regular-season games. In the postseason, Leonard repaid them by leading the Raptors to their first championship in franchise history behind 30.5 points per game.

The Toronto Raptors have been crowned NBA champions, claiming their franchise's first title as well as the first for any Canadian team, and Jeremy Lin also became the first Asian American to earn an NBA ring, according to the South China Morning Post's Patrick Blennerhassett.

This season was the 30-year-old's first in Toronto. Lin arrived to the Raptors after agreeing to a buyout with the Atlanta Hawks in February. He then appeared in 23 games, starting three.

During this postseason run, Lin has only logged 27 total minutes. His only playing time in the Finals came in the final minute of the Raptors' 123-109 Game 3 win. 

Ironically, Lin's career began with the Golden State Warriors when he joined the team as an undrafted free agent in 2010. However, he made a name during the 2011-12 season with the New York Knicks when "Linsanity" was born.

Since then, though, Lin has become a journeyman as Toronto is his sixth team since 2012. 

The infamous Drake curse is over, and it was his favorite team who broke it as the Toronto Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors 114-110 Thursday night to claim the franchise's first NBA championship.  

The Toronto rapper was not in attendance at Oracle Arena but rather at home at Jurassic Park. As soon as the buzzer sounded in the Bay, Champagne Papi popped the bubbly: 

The Grammy Award winner is officially a global ambassador for the Raptors but unofficially among the team's stoutest sideline fixtures. Throughout the NBA Finals, in particular, Drake has been as active showing support for the squad on social media as on the sideline. 

However, the world will have to wait for Drake's championship post and inevitable Raptors-inspired music.

For now, he's in his feelings. 

Toronto Raptors fan Hamzah Moin started a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of $25,000 to benefit the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation after some members of the team's fanbase cheered when KD suffered a potentially serious Achilles injury in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals on Monday night.

"It's not as much an apology as it is trying to turn this into a positive," Moin told Joe Warmington of the Toronto Sun about the charity effort, which has raised over $6,700 as of Wednesday afternoon.

"There was something in the air when he went down that didn't feel right," he added. "The fan reaction didn't feel representative of true Raptors fans."

The Kevin Durant Charity Foundation's official website says its mission is "to enrich the lives of at-risk youth from low-income backgrounds through educational, athletic and social programs."

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Although Durant, who returned from a calf injury to take part in Game 5, only played 12 minutes, the Warriors scored a 106-105 road victory to trim the Raptors' series lead to 3-2.

The 10-time All-Star selection has traveled to New York City for further evaluation on the injury, per Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic.

Game 6 of the Finals is scheduled for Thursday night at Oracle Arena in Oakland.

The biggest court battle for the Toronto Raptors might not be against the Golden State Warriors, but instead Monster Energy. 

The energy drink company has filed legal action with the U.S. Patent Office, claiming the logo the Raptors have used since 2014 is too similar to its own, according to the Canadian Press (via CBC). 

"[Monster] has sold billions of dollars worth of goods under [its] mark," the company said, describing its logo featuring three gashes that was created in 2002.

J.E. Skeets of The Starters provided a side-by-side of the two logos:

Although the initial suit was created in 2015, the fight has languished for four years and a judge will have to decide whether a consumer would likely be confused.

"In one case you have a very popular logo from an NBA franchise that everybody understands is Toronto Raptors," Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Raptors, said in its response. "And on the other, you have a logo that everybody understands is Monster Energy. 

"It appears on its face the logos are pretty different."

Considering how popular Raptors apparel has become during the current playoff run, you can be sure Monster Energy is going to keep up its efforts to win this case.

Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse provided a practical reason for calling timeout with 3:05 remaining in regulation while his team led the Golden State Warriors 103-97 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday.

According to ESPN.com's Tim Bontemps, Nurse said the timeout was meant to give his players a rest rather than a premature championship celebration: "We just came across and just decided to give those guys a rest. [We] just thought we could use the extra energy push."

The decision seemed to backfire since the Warriors reeled off nine unanswered points after the timeout, with Klay Thompson knocking down two trifectas and Stephen Curry nailing one.

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That allowed Golden State to escape Toronto with a 106-105 victory and send the series back to Oakland for Game 6 with the Warriors trailing 3-2.

Bontemps noted the two-timeout limit inside the final three minutes has resulted in an uptick in the use of timeouts just outside the three-minute mark, much like Nurse did during Monday's game.

Still, the timing was curious given that Kawhi Leonard had reeled off a 10-2 run by himself and helped turn a six-point deficit entering the fourth quarter into a six-point advantage with just over three minutes left.

Toronto appeared destined for its first NBA championship with a 3-1 lead in the series on its home floor.

Golden State seized the momentum back after the timeout even in the wake of Kevin Durant's departure with an Achilles injury in the second quarter. KD had scored 11 points in 12 minutes and given the Warriors a significant boost after he missed the previous nine games with a calf strain.

Per ESPN's Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski, the Warriors expect an MRI to show Durant suffered a torn Achilles, which would cost him the rest of the NBA Finals and potentially the entire 2019-20 season.

In the midst of Golden State's three-point barrage down the stretch, Toronto missed five of its final six attempts from the field, including a three-point attempt by Kyle Lowry at the buzzer that would have given the Raptors the win and the NBA title had it gone down.

Nurse said Golden State simply made more plays in the closing minutes:

"I think that in this day and age, up six with three minutes to go doesn't mean a whole lot. You got to keep playing and getting good shots and keep guarding. We have been a really good close-game team this year, both ends of the floor. We really guarded in the second half; we held them to 22 each quarter, and I felt good at that point. [We] just needed to make a couple more plays."

With the win, Golden State ensured there will be a Game 6 in Oakland on Thursday, and the crowd will be raucous in part because it will be the final contest ever played at Oracle Arena.

The Warriors face an uphill climb since they need to win two more games without the services of Durant, but Monday's win was the first step toward what could be an all-time great comeback.

Kyle Lowry had a shot to clinch the Toronto Raptors' first NBA championship in franchise history at the buzzer in Monday night's Game 5, but the ball collided with Draymond Green's fingertips and the side of the backboard instead of the net.

As a result, the Golden State Warriors prevailed 106-105 to force a Game 6 in the NBA Finals.

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After the loss, Lowry walked through the last play:

The Warriors took a 106-103 lead off a Klay Thompson three-pointer with 57.6 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Raptors found themselves with the last possession and only a one-point deficit after DeMarcus Cousins committed an offensive foul with 15.7 seconds left.

Lowry finished with 18 points, while Kawhi Leonard led Toronto with 26 points.

The Raptors' next chance to clinch will come Thursday night at Oracle Arena.

Toronto Raptors star Kawhi Leonard isn't willing to settle.

After his team lost Game 2 of the 2019 NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors, head coach Nick Nurse said the goal was to split the next two contests in Oracle Arena. "F--k that," Leonard said, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN. "Let's get them both."

Get them both is exactly what the Raptors did, building a commanding 3-1 lead heading into Game 5 back at home.

While it would seem Toronto is destined to win its first championship in franchise history, the task will become much more difficult Monday. Kevin Durant is starting Game 5 after missing the first four contests with a calf injury.

That means the two-time defending champions will have the combination of Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green on the floor for the first time since the second round against the Houston Rockets and will need to win three straight contests to take home a third straight championship.

Defeating that group is a daunting task, but so was winning two straight in Golden State. Leonard was up for that challenge and will surely be up for this one as well.