PASCAL SIAKAM
on
SHAUN LIVINGSTON AND DRAYMOND GREEN
F
red VanVleet alleyed it, Pascal
Siakam ooped it, and the Toronto
Raptors were on their way. They lost
Game 2, yes, but their Game 1 win
over the presumptive about-to-three-
peat champions had awakened something
that had lain dormant in Toronto since the
franchise was established back in 1995. Well,
actually, Kawhi Leonard had awakened it with
one stellar playoff performance after another,
but all the way up until the Finals started, “To-
ronto Raptors, NBA Champions” still seemed
like an impossible outcome. Until it didn’t.
Fred VanVleet alleyed it, Pascal Siakam
ooped it, and the Toronto Raptors were on
their way to becoming NBA champions. As
VanVleet went from NBA longshot to making
seemingly every long shot and Siakam al-
chemized potential to talent before our eyes,
the Raptors themselves were transformed.
And this dunk wasn’t all that was thrown
down. —Russ Bengtson
JUNE 2, 2019SCOTIABANK ARENA
TORONTO, CANADASLAM
ADAMONTH
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